Stupid With Love
by Tsukiko hoshino
Summary: Once, after a Shukaku induced manic episode had caused him to destroy every toy he owned Sasori had told Gaara he ought to treat his possessions better unless he wanted someone to steal them away. Looking at his cousin's bizarre form of flirting he'd come to the conclusion that no one had ever told Sasuke such a thing. Alt-Canon, Nonmass.
1. If Plants Could Speak

The same year that Sakura turned 23 she came to a decision, It was the second week of July and Konohagakure was well in the throes of its rainy season which was great for the forest and the plants crowded on her veranda but it didn't do a thing for her already foul mood.

"I have had enough." Sakura scowled at a rather lush magnolia tree. The rain and wind were assaulting her apartment building with a fury that matched her own and she was half sure there would be a power outage sometime in the night. She was of course _not _speaking to the plant who had always done right by her, sprouting fragrant blooms without fail since she'd gotten it as a housewarming gift years ago.

Haruno Mebuki could lament all her days that her only child couldn't cook much more than rice and eggs but Kizashi would be damned if his girl hadn't been born with a green thumb befitting their family name.

No, Sakura was not referring to the plant nor the rain but rather a person who was nowhere to be found. "Coward!" she accused, watering some poor gardenias a little more aggressively than needed as she recalled having said something similar to Sasuke many years ago in the Forest of Death. 'Well, it's as true _now_ as it was _then_.' She told herself.

Her relationship with Sasuke reminded her of a yoyo. During the split their team had experienced after the whole Orochimaru debacle that ended with Sasuke under house arrest for a few years, Naruto went off traveling with Jiraiya while she trained beneath Tsunade and swore to put aside her childish crush and focus on her path as a Kunoichi. It was a vow she had faithfully kept for just shy of a decade.

She'd stopped asking for dates, stopped blushing at every glance he sent her way, she even learned to treat him a little less like an idol and more like a fallible human being in the years that followed. She had not only put the thought of dating _him_ out of her head but anyone else too as she devoted herself to her career.

Sakura probably would have continued along like that until two years ago when Sasuke entered what was jokingly referred to by Naruto as late onset puberty in which he finally seemed to realize that Sakura was a woman and a pretty one at that.

The spring she turned 21 the original members of Team 7 and those who had joined them later had organized a Hanami event close enough that it doubled as a celebration of Sakura's birthday. Naruto and Sai had been put in charge of securing a good spot among the flowering trees while she and Sasuke had been sent to fetch the food and drinks. No one expected much from Kakashi other than being late, though Yamato had sworn he'd get him there on time for once.

Not that anyone had much faith in that at the time.

They had just stepped foot on one of the many red bridges that Konohagakure sported both of her hands were full, the bags she had almost bursting under the weight of the drinks inside while Sasuke totted the large layered bento Mikoto had prepared for the group.

Sakura had stopped to admire the view, the spring breeze scattering the petals of her namesake everywhere, even in her hair.

_"__Aaa, Stay still."_ Sasuke had said, something in his voice she'd never heard before startled her, pulling her eyes off the rippling water as his hands threaded her hair, the petals sifting out of candy-floss colored strands.

She hadn't seen it coming, the press of his lips to hers and so the bags had fallen to the ground busting open and sending bottles rolling over the edge and into the river, swept away by the current. He'd pulled away looking rather pleased with himself after. Sakura's face had stayed red the rest of the day growing even darker when Naruto complained that they forgot to bring drinks.

Sakura had thought that day had marked a change in their relationship and it had...sort of. At least _unofficially_.

Sasuke never called her his girlfriend, they never held hands in public and they certainly never kissed where anyone would see them not even on the cheek and It had begun to grate on her nerves after the first year and she dropped subtle hints because she knew that Sasuke _hated_ it when she nagged.

There were of course people who knew that the two of them were more than friends but Sasuke seemed especially determined to keep it from his family-his father in particular, because everyone knew Fugaku was dead set on future daughter-in-laws with more...pedigree than Sakura had.

"So what if I don't come from a clan? Everything I have, everything _I am_ is because I worked my ass off and lucked out on genetics." Sakura said to the fern Kakashi had gifted her for the new year, gripping the decorative pot hard enough to spread cracks through it. "And I'm not _inbred_ like some people!" of course she would _never_ say that to their faces-it would just be rude.

She'd tolerated being treated like a mistress for two years until she just couldn't stand to drop one more hint that Sasuke would proceed to conveniently ignore and promptly exploded. It was the worst fight they had ever had, or rather it was the angriest she had ever gotten at him but by the end of it Sasuke had promised_this _year, by his birthday they'd come clean.

Sakura had believed that. So yesterday when he came around during one of her shifts at the hospital all apologetic-or as sorry as Uchiha Sasuke could _appear_ to be while he explained he'd be going away until September on some important mission he couldn't discuss the specifics of nor would he be able to write during his absence. she had simply sighed and said; "Well some things can't be helped…" and carried on with the rest of the day as graceful as someone stewing in disappointment could be.

Had she been upset that their plans had been waylaid? Of course but Sakura was a reasonable person and she accepted it. They were Shinobi and things happened. "And sometimes you _make_ things happen." Sakura was starting to feel bad for abusing her plants but the more she thought the angrier she got.

She would have just gone on believing in Sasuke's good intentions if she hadn't accidentally stumbled onto the truth by just a few hours ago on her way home from a hospital shift and caught the chatter of two familiar voices-or rather mostly Naruto's through the flimsy curtains of Ichiraku.

_"You're telling me that you accepted some lame escort mission just so you could be out of the village a few months? Teme, have you lost it? Why don't you just be honest with Sakura, or even better your family. It's not like half of them don't know already.."_ There was a loud slurping after that, indicating he'd moved on to his noodles.

"_Because you know how Sakura is. She can be so overbearing it's better to be out of the village and away from her. This whole business with her wanting to be out in the open and official as she calls it is exactly why I asked for that mission."_ It was more than Sakura had heard Sasuke say when he told her he'd be leaving. "_Even if I tell my father his feelings on the subject aren't going to change...it's better if Sakura just puts it out of her head and cools her heels while I'm gone."_

Naruto went about as silent as her stopped heart at that moment before saying: _"I fucking doubt that, dattebayo... I mean if not now, when? Never?"_

_"If Sakura loves me like she says she does then she should just be happy with what we have_."

Tsunade would have called her a saint for not punching Ichiraku right off the map with them still inside it.

'Just what the hell was that even supposed to mean?' Sakura had asked herself that question several times so far. Was she supposed to be happy if he got married to some other girl Fugaku approved of so long as Sasuke saw her on the side? Was she supposed to enjoy not being able to go on dates or cuddle in public like every other couple on the planet?

"Because I'm fucking not." She wasn't happy at all but what pissed her off the most was the fact that Sasuke had lied to her, he had no intention of keeping his promise and he was slithering off like a snake hoping she would forget the whole thing. 'Well that sure as hell isn't happening.'

The whole thing left her feeling like a complete fool and the silent plants around her only seemed to say _what're you going to do about it_? with every shift of their fronds and glossy green leaves. The lights overhead flickered with the force of the storm and with a frustrated sniffle Sakura decided to call it a night, hoping that her problems would clear with the rain.

They didn't.

"Dump him." Tsunade supplied oh so helpfully the next morning. "Brutally, in public-preferably in front of his mommy and say 'it's not me, its you.' Because that would be the truth." What else was she supposed to say after Sakura had shown up in her office all puffy eyed and looking like she'd had herself a long cry.

It didn't take an interrogation to get her former student to spill her woes but then Sakura never was particularly good at hiding her feelings. 'Why can't I retire already?' She complained to herself as she stamped her signature on another paper. Kakashi had outright laughed at her the last time she suggested he take the mantle...of course he wasn't laughing much after she punched him in the arm. It looked more and more as if Naruto would be the Rokudaime-if he could sit still and be quiet long enough.

Sakura huffed at the advice shuffling the papers about as she checked them twice to make sure they were in order. "I don't want to dump him."

Shizune grumbled under her breath. "It's a bit hard to dump someone who you're technically not dating." She_almost_ flinched at the betrayed look Sakura gave her.

"Oh, so you _want_ to keep being his doormat?" The last Senju rolled her eyes at the proclamation. "I thought I taught you better than that."

"I don't want that either!" Sakura snapped back as she tapped her left foot one or twice and then began to pace. "What I want is him wriggling like a worm on a hook, begging for forgiveness...or as close as he can get. I just want to know that he cares, even just a little bit." Her bottom lip only trembled just a tad as she staved off more tears. That had always been the case, it always felt like she cared more for Sasuke then he did her-and this recent event only drove home the point.

Tsunade decided what they really needed was liquor and for once Shizune did not complain when she rose from her desk to retrieve the bottles full of what she referred to as the good stuff while the darker haired woman provided the ochoko, pressing one of the small cups into Sakura's hand to be filled.

It was after Sakura had taken her second cupful that Shizune decided to probe what she was sure to be a sore spot. "You're basically saying that you're willing to accept the bare minimum of him. It just doesn't sound like the basis of a good relationship…" Wounds were often better for the lancing.

"Why don't I just lay on the floor and you can stomp on me." Sakura offered, eyes rolling towards the ceiling as she downed another mouthful. The fact that they did not approve of Sasuke was not new to her. They thought that Sasuke had a sense of unearned entitlement which she supposed could be true but at the same time they did not see the side of him that she saw.

Like when he conveniently ran into her when she was returning home from some place or another and walked her, even though it was completely out of his way, or when he vetoed Naruto's choice of ramen for her sake every now and then, letting her choose their next meal instead. Sasuke didn't talk much but he was a good listener and she appreciated that because Sakura talked enough for both of them. 'Although what good is listening when you willfully ignore what I'm saying?'

"As long as you're just sitting around waiting for him it's going to be the same old song and dance." Tsunade complained and dropped her voice into something low and monotone. "Aaa Sakura, I'm home. " and then she batted her eyes in a saccharine sweet way, her voice pitching higher. "Welcome Home Sasuke-kun!" the perfect image of a lovesick fool.

Sakura's mouth dropped open. "I don't sound like that!" She looked towards Shizune as if expecting an ally but the dark haired woman only sipped at her cup pointedly. "I wouldn't do that, not after this," her hand motioned in the air vaguely as she insisted, almost spilling her newly filled ochoko in process. "Whole thing!"

Neither of them seemed to believe her.

For good reason as it turned out. " What about earlier this year when he promised to go Hanami viewing with _you _for your birthday and anniversary but ditched you for his family? You waited two hours." Tsunade tapped her nails on the desk. "Face it kid, you're a push over when it comes to him and he knows it. He basically said it himself, Sasuke knows _exactly_ how the whole thing is going to play out."

Her foot itched to kick something, mostly herself because they were right the only consolation Sakura could find in her current situation was that at least she had not run into Ino because painful truths would be the least of her worries. Ino would have gone all scorched earth and dragged her right along in her fury. "I should just drop off the face of the earth." She covered her face in shame upon realizing that at some point Ino _was_ going to find out one way or another. 'She can smell secrets like a pig does truffles...'

Worst of all Sakura was having the sudden realization that she at some point had fallen into the nasty habits of her 12 year old self. Doing everything she could to morph herself into some creature more amenable to Sasuke's tastes at the expense of herself. it made her stomach drop.

Tsunade blinked as a thought occurred to her, lips turning slyly. "Now, Now, It doesn't _have_ to be something so extreme, why not just out of the village?" There were few things better than solving a series of problems with one action. It made life so much simpler. "You know that Suna has been looking to improve and overhaul their medical infrastructure-we've been discussing it for years but we could never quite come to..._amenable_ terms for what they wanted."

They may have been allied shortly after Sasori took office but that didn't mean she had been counting on it to last long enough to send them someone as valuable as Sakura when they had first posed it years ago and just because Suna's economics improved after their former Daimyo died didn't mean they could just buy her apprentice. 'But, the alliance held for seven years and given the current Kazekage is basically Naruto's fanboy…' She couldn't think of a reason to withhold their assistance on such a front.

Well...there might have been _one. _'But that might not be bad given the current situation.' Tsunade snickered into her cup. 'If that works out it might even be a net positive all around.'

"Yes, but they asked that almost five years ago." Sakura said as she slumped into one of the office chairs next to Shizune.

"Better late than never. I want you to think about this carefully Sakura, This is not just about getting back at Sasuke-You've been floating that idea of a children's hospital but the funding and approval are not forthcoming because you lack _experience_." Those were not her own views but those of the elders. "Getting Suna in order could go a long way in shutting those voices down."

That was what really got her attention, eyes brightening as she shot up from her seat."You really think so?" It was the happiest Sakura had looked since she walked in.

"I do." Tsunade smiled. "But you have to be aware that this could be rather long term. The original proposal they sent was tentative when they asked for a year. You're not going to be able to come home until it's through or you're given leave by Suna."

Her first thought was of Sasuke, leaving for a year with things as they were couldn't possibly be good for them. 'But he's the one who said if I loved him I should be happy with what I have...doesn't the same go for him?' She supported his dream, even if she didn't particularly understand his almost obsessive desire to be viewed as better than his brother. 'This could be a big step forward in making my dream a reality.' and it wasn't as if they couldn't visit or write, Suna was only a three day trek.

"I want to know before I bother making any plans what your answer will be."

It would be a lie to say that the alcohol and her own spite played no part in the "Yes!" that tumbled from her mouth without further forethought. "Oh my plants…" it wasn't like she could pack them up and take them which was a real shame. Instead she'd have to get Ino or her parents to care for them if they had any hope of surviving her departure.

There may have been several more drinks consumed in the time that it took Tsunade to compose her letter. Sakura couldn't be too sure, things began to get a little fuzzy for her around the fifth pour. She woke up the next day with a pounding headache and a departure date that left her with a small time frame to get her affairs in order.

Given that it was a Shinobi village her apartment would be paid for until she returned, and she managed to wrangle her parents and Ino into stopping by and watering her plants periodically. In the end after much debate Sakura, despite how pissed she might have been she did pen a note to Sasuke explaining the details of her absence, minus the relationship drama and took it to the Uchiha compound.

Leaving it with Mikoto meant having to answer awkward questions, leaving it with Fugaku meant getting stared down….which left her with Itachi or Shisui. In the end she decided that whichever one she ran into first could be the unlucky bearer.

A turn down one of the streets and she caught sight of both the men she was looking for sitting at some tiny tea shop they liked to frequent in the Uchiha district. "Well, that didn't take nearly as long as I thought." That or they were just predictable to her at this point.

"Sakura-chan!" Shisui waved excitedly so much so that he would have whacked Itachi in the face if the long haired man hadn't ducked just so.

"Shisui, she isn't deaf." Itachi intoned. "But I_will be_ if you don't lower the decibels." He held up the plate of dango that had been sitting on the table untouched in silent offering.

"Oh thank you." Sakura hoped the sugar would help ease the pounding behind her eyes as she took a stick, taking the seat at the end of the bench next to him. "I can't stay long." she fished the envelope out of her side pouch and set it on the table. "Next time you see Sasuke I'd appreciate it if you gave him this." The chewy texture of the dango meant she didn't have to answer the inquisitive looks with words.

"Is there a reason you can't deliver it yourself?" Itachi questioned pouring a cup of tea for her after Shisui returned from fetching it.

"I won't be here…I'm going to be in Suna for at least a year." Itachi and Shisui might have been intimidating to a lot of people given their reputations and rightfully so but she'd known them for about a decade...'And also I've seen them half naked before.' so she did not buckle under the pair of dark eyes trying to suss out her every secret. "I'll be leaving in the morning."

"How sudden." Itachi hummed, head already full of thoughts. 'Oh dear…' he certainly prophesied trouble on the horizon one way or the other.

"A year? But I'm coming up due for my annual shots and you know I hate being stabbed in the ass by strangers." Shisui complained and she should see by the shifting of Itachi's shoulders the faint sigh he was exhaling.

Sakura only patted his shoulder comfortingly. 'Great and mighty Shinobi horrified by little needles are endlessly amusing.' she thought with a wry smile. "Thank you for the tea and dango."

"My pleasure." Itachi smiled serenely. Out of team 7 he had always been of the opinion that Sakura had always been the most level headed of out of the 3 if Kakashi was to be excluded. His brother was unfortunately in the possession of an immense ego that often carried him away. So while he had well founded suspicions that Sasuke had very recently messed up in some way or another he wasn't going to pry. 'All things come to light in time.' he mused. "What will you be doing in Suna?"

"Essentially running the hospital and medical corp, giving them a well needed leg up in the medical field." Suna was very, very good at killing people...not so great at treating them. 'Then again that is a Konohagakure specialty.' They had the highest survival rate of all the villages, a fact that Tsunade never failed to rub into every other Kage's face. She finished her tea and answered a few more questions before taking her leave.

When he was sure that Sakura was well out of earshot Shisui turned to Itachi. "I know he's your precious baby brother and all but Sasuke's played himself _bad_ with this whole have his cake and eat it too ploy. I mean it's not like your dad doesn't already _know_-Fugaku-san is also a ninja." Sasuke was severely underestimating the intelligence of everyone around him if he thought he was being secretive about his pseudo relationship with Sakura. 'It's only like the worst kept secret of the village right now.'

"Sasuke is just trying to avoid any blatant disapproval, he thinks as long as he keeps things out of direct line of sight what he does is beneath notice." Itachi leaned his cheek into the palm of his hand. "There is a reason I frequently refer to him as foolish." he pointed out, watching a few leaves drop from a persimmon tree. Itachi loved him, truly he did but well...Sasuke was not particularly good at looking ahead and he had the great misfortune of being overly concerned with clan affairs and the approval of their father. 'A hard thing to gain from a man as stern as Father is.'

Sakura's acumen alone should have been enough to gain Fugaku's blessing but it seemed as though he was clinging to old enmities between the Senju and Uchiha, not quite ready to let go of past slights even though Sakura had no blood in the fued. "He only has himself to blame for whatever comes." Itachi said at last, tucking the letter that was left behind into his shirt.

The following days were a blur of activity for Sakura as she haphazardly packed her things, bid her farewells and proceeded without escort towards the desert-she was a bit unused to solo-traveling but it also meant she carried on at her own pace pretty much unworried about an ambush.

Anyone who tried would be signing their death warrant. There were not a lot of ways to kill her thanks to the seal and it was going to take more than an average ninja to manage the damage output that was needed to take her down. 'I mean at this point It's decapitation, exhaustion, _maybe _a particularly virulent disease of some sort and inevitable old age that I really need to look out for.' She'd never tested that last theory out and didn't have any intention of doing so. 'Here lies Haruno Sakura, successor to Tsunade the great sannin, felled by an aggressive, self injected fungal infection.' She thought humorlessly. 'No thanks on that front.' She did not inherit her mentor's love of gambling.

By the time Suna was in sight she was sweaty, covered in sand and her skin stung faintly.

If someone were to tell her Akasuna no Sasori, former Kazekage and the shadowy right hand of Gaara would be waiting for her at the gates of Sunagakure she might have laughed. Temari, sure. They saw one another often enough in Konoha that they were friends, Kankuro too given the fact she'd saved his life...even Chiyo who she still exchanged letters with would have been expected but _not_ her grandson.

Sasori didn't exactly come to mind when Sakura thought of a welcoming face. She would have just assumed he was simply lounging around for some other reason if he hadn't pushed off the wall he'd been leaning on when he caught sight of her. He retained that same sedate expression that made him look as if he'd like to crawl back into bed and he _still _looked as as if he hadn't aged all that much since he hit his mid 20's 'Good grief, whatever he's doing with his face he could make a killing if he sold it on the market.'

She struggled to find the words to say in greeting unsure of what to say. Sasori wasn't exactly what Sakura would call a stranger. They'd met more than a few times but if she were to consider the encounters that stuck out the most there was a decent sized list.

The first being when he'd been present as the Subaku's Sensei during her first Chūnin exam. Seven years older, he could have been seen as Suna's version of Itachi...if the latter had an attitude problem.

The only real interaction she'd had with him then was when she'd been waking people up from the genjutsu they'd fallen under as Sasuke pursued Gaara. Sasori had a way of looking at people that left them feeling like they were the size of an amoeba and she'd felt no different seeing him sneering down at her as he said _"__I guess you're not completely talentless after all."_ and cutting down a Oto-nin intent on ending her short little life.

Apparently he'd realized Orochimaru's double cross and decided to go off script to mitigate the damage-a ploy according to Tsunade to put him on the better side of what he already knew would be a losing situation otherwise. There was no doubt Sasori foresaw that he would end up as Kazekage with Rasa dead and simply wanted something to hold over Konoha's head.

He'd looked utterly incredulous when Kakashi had sent her, Naruto and Shikamaru off to collect Sasuke, going as far as to call the Copy-nin a complete dunce-offering the soundest advice of _"__Little Girl, you'd best stay out of Gaara's way if you want all your internal organs unruptured."_

Not that Sakura had listened. 'But I came out of it alright.' maybe better than alright because it only served to hammer home the fact that she was woefully behind the rest of her peer group and if she wanted to be a Shinobi who lived past 20, much less a _good _one she'd better step it up.

Especially after some familial spat no one was ever told the specifics of and the psychological effects of Orochimaru's seal sent Sasuke from the village and there was nothing she could do to help. That in the end was what drove her to Tsunade and her inevitable second meeting. It had been almost a year since the last Chūnin exam and Sasori had taken over as Kazekage until Gaara reached the age of 18.

There had been some pretty intense negotiations going on at the time given the fact that Suna had just _tried_ to wipe Konoha off the map. Not that she had been listening at the door or anything.

Still, she could recall sitting on a stack of books outside Tsunade's office reading until it felt like her eyes were going to bleed right out of her skull because she had an upcoming test-and by test she meant Tsunade would try-and _succeed_ in beating the living daylights out of her all while asking her what she remembered before ever allowing her to try the techniques out on a living person.

It proved to be a brutal and effective training regimen, because being forced to think and move, desperate to avoid bruised bones and shrapnel from accelerated dibre turned out to be good conditioning for coping with the stress of intense situations like say, having to stick her hands wrist deep into someone's chest cavity.

So there she was, face buried in a chemistry book reading about reagents and solvents as she tried to figure out the right components to an antidote she'd been tasked with hypothetically creating. The book of plants was open and splayed over her knee.

The funny thing, or rather the _difficult_ thing that made being a medic worthy of Tsunade's acknowledgement was that learning mystic palm was the least of it. She was expected to master multiple trades. Fighting and evading, healing and destroying. Knowing the body down to every different cell that made it up-of which there were about 200 hundred _and_ on top of all that Sakura had to know what substances, or combination thereof could benefit or harm the body they made up.

Not to mention all of it had to be done while constantly pooling her chakra to a specific spot without ceasing-otherwise she'd never unlock the Byakugō. So hell yea, she was busy and monumentally distracted.

Which is why she could have been excused for snapping at the shadow that had crossed into her light and lingered a little longer than necessary. Thinking it was likely Ino coming to nag her about taking a break and eating a proper lunch Sakura complained and shooed a hand without looking up. _"__Shove off Pig."_

_"__My, haven't you gotten mouthy Little Girl."_

Thinking about it made her blush because Sakura was well aware that she had probably looked a lot like that poor gasping-for-air fish she'd practiced on the first few months of her tenure, She'd just called a foreign Kage a pig and that Kage happened to be someone who had earned the name Akasuna because they literally dyed the sands red with blood. 'Well, shit.' she'd thought, dragging her eyes up from the massive tome as she offered a sheepish smile. If he didn't kill her she was sure Tsunade would after hearing about it.

_"__I uh...didn't mean you."_ Sakura wished she were a fluid so she could seep into the wall behind her and disappear from his intense eyes, Rather than chew her out he seemed more interested in the title of the book.

_"__Does someone like you even comprehend what they're reading?_" It was almost a scoff.

_"__Like me?_" There was no doubt that she'd scowled at the implication. "_And Yes, I do understand it."_ She might have only had a week with the material but Sakura was confident she had a good grasp of it.

Maybe he was feeling particularly indulgent that day because he didn't simply leave it at that. _"__A A person is suffering from the effects of a chemical nerve agent, what in your opinion could be the main ingredient in the cure?" _

_"__Atropine, which can be found in mandrake and other species of Nightshade along with pralidoxime chloride. Injected into the muscles-repeated treatments might be necessary for best results."_

_"__Adequate." _He'd said just as Shizine opened the door to Tsunade's office to let him in. _  
_Sakura wouldn't say he was impressed but it at least felt like she went from being a single celled organism in his eyes to having multiple ones. He was in and out of Tsunade's office over the course of a few days and each time he saw her there he'd ask another question about some ingredient-if she was correct he never failed to acknowledge it and if she were wrong, which only happened once he'd simply tsked and let her correct herself.

For whatever reason Tsunade did not end up beating her any harder than usual and Sakura just thanked her lucky stars for that.

The third she'd met him Suna had officiated the next round of Chūnin exams and Sakura had been given the go head to attend as the 3rd member of Ino's team in place of Shikamaru, making Ino-Saku-Cho a thing. It was rough at first, she wasn't used to fighting with a chakra handicap, the fact that she'd effectively cut down her disposable supply by continuously storing a portion meant she had to learn to do more with even _less_ than she had before.

Her Chakra pool had never been particularly deep to begin with and she was struggling the first half of the survival round until things just _clicked_ for her. She decimated a giant sand scorpion with a single punch and served it for lunch, blew through her one on one matches-and almost destroyed the arena in the process but that wasn't _really_ important.

What was important was that during her promotion Sasori had been in the room when she got the news. _"__You may very well be the most improved of your academy._" Those words in retrospect might not have sounded like much, but to her they meant something. It felt like recognition for all the hard work she'd put in, the bruises and the sleepless nights of studying, the tears of frustration and every failure that threatened to claw out her heart.

It was one thing to hear something like that from Tsunade, or Ino, or anyone else she knew because there was always the chance that they only said it to make her feel better. Hearing it from someone who had no stake in her feelings meant it could only be the truth.

She met him again after she'd turned 15. Some terrorist group had lured Gaara out of the village intent on stealing the Ichibi, meanwhile Kankuro had been poisoned by something pilfered right out of the then Kazekage's own workshop-it had been a real mess considering he'd been away on some diplomatic trip at the time, visiting the new wind Daimyo after the previous one and his immediate family had taken violently ill and died within quick succession of one another.

Team 7, minus Sasuke who was still under house arrest at the time and Team Gai were dispatched to supply support. About ten minutes after Sakura had finished administering the antidote that would save Kankuro's life Sasori had walked through the doors as they were discussing their plans, Chiyo-baasama had just offered her services to the cause.

_"__I see you're not dead." _He'd still been wearing his official robes, though the hat was missing as he spoke to Kankuro. _"__You don't look like you're suffering too much though...Did they mistake a paralytic for one of the deadly ones?" _  
_  
__"__Heavy metal."_ Sakura corrected, holding up the sample she'd filtered out from the younger Puppet Master. _"__This thing was a real piece of work by the way. The cellular destruction was astoundingly quick. You really ought to keep antidotes on hand for something this awful."  
_  
"_Why would I do that? If I were to accidentally poison myself I would deserve to die and if someone were to be poisoned by me I obviously wanted them dead. Making antidotes for things meant to kill defeats their purpose and is a waste of time. As for Kankuro? he should have dodged better._" The expression-or rather lack thereof and the emptiness of his tone reminded her of how he'd looked at her the first time.

The startling realization that it wasn't just her that he looked down upon but basically everyone upt to and including his own blood struck her. _"__What kind of statement is that? They're your family and you act like it doesn't even matter if they die!"_ Kankuro was Sasori's cousin, his student and a member of the village he was meant to protect with his life.

"_Girl, Is that really something a Shinobi should say_? _You should know that all Shinobi are nothing but disposable tools_."

Her teeth had grit so hard they ached-and Naruto, who was poised to interject with his own complaints was drowned out by her shrill voice. "_Why's that the only way that you can think? Ninja's are still human beings no matter how you look at it, saying that death is inevitable therefore its pointless to care...what sort of stupid logic is that_?" Anger had a way of making Sakura braver than she would have been otherwise and her tongue had gotten away making her forget just who she was talking to. "_If we go by what you're saying than me creating that antidote was a pointless endeavor because someday Kankuro's going to die from something one way or another_._If that's the case antibiotics are a waste too."_

Something in his head seemed to click-like the gears of a machine grinding into motion. It was probably the most emotion she'd seen out of him-the fractional widening of his eyes as they moved from her and off to the side. It reminded her of the face she sometimes made when she was doing complex math. "_How unexpected._" He said at last. "_I'll admit it, you really are impressive...at least with antidotes. I'd like to see how you fight but given the situation it is best I remain here. Hag, you'll have to tell me if she fights as well as she runs her mouth...if you come back alive."_ it was said with the flippant wave of his hand over his shoulder.

Chiyo, after their battle had ended and Sakura was tending to their wounds would go on to explain some of the animosity Sasori had exhibited. "_He's a creature of the time he was born in and I'm afraid I only made it worse. You shouldn't judge him too harshly Dear, hard times breed hard men." _the old woman had said, patting her hand. "Though I've never seen him so unsettled as I did today." She cackled raucously, the sound booming through the cavern they were in. _"__That boy isn't used to being yelled at you see. You gave him quite a shock."  
_  
There was definitely a strange family dynamic at play but Chiyo-baasama and Gaara did make it back in the end, both a little worn around the edges but alive. Team 7 rested for a day before they were off and running to return home.

Sakura met him after that when he had proceeded to do something unprecedented in Sunagakure's entire history and stepped down from his ruling position. Unlike Konoha, Suna was more of a monarchy and no one had really expected Sasori to relinquish his power. Sakura didn't know much about him personally but she did hear the whispers. That he liked power and control, that the sudden death of the former daimyo may not have just been due to the spread of bad germs...but apparently he disliked being Kazekage enough to all but throw the hat at Gaara by the end.

In anycase, Tsunade had attended the inauguration of the 6th Kazekage and took her and Naruto along as extra bodyguards-Naruto had mostly gone because he and Gaara were friends. By that time Sakura was 20 and had unlocked the Byakugō years ago although she'd only ever had to use it once by then.

They were slated to be in Suna for an entire week but she'd run into him on the first day, Sasori hadn't seemed particularly surprised to see her when she came strolling around a street corner and almost straight into him. In the years that she'd known him Sakura had become a bit accustomed to him wearing the robes of a Kage and seeing him in the black, sleeveless turtleneck and standard Jōnin pants had thrown her for a bit of a loop.

"_Ah_," He said, by then she'd grown up enough that they were almost equal in height when she wore modest heeled boots. "_It seems like every time we meet you're different but_ exactly_the same."_ Sasori seemed both tacitly delighted and vaguely befuddled by it.

"_And you haven't changed since the day I met you_." Sakura noted dryly because he hadn't. Whatever skin care regime Sasori had going was working for him, There was not a wrinkle in sight nor a single grey hair that she could spy-he was only seven years older, the same age as Itachi so she supposed it wasn't _that _unexpected. But even Itachi had wrinkles around his eyes by that time.

"_Oh, Darling Girl you certainly do know how to compliment a man_." Sakura had found herself more than a little startled when he'd gently cupped her face to get a better look at her. Most likely it was the exact moment that she realized Sasori was a man and a handsome one at that. _"__I used to think that true beauty only existed in things that were everlasting and unchanged by time, but I'm finding more and more that some things are...transcendent_."

Whatever he meant, it made no sense to her then nor now when she thought about it, she _had _been a little distracted at the time by his long fingers trailing a path up the curve of her cheek to thumb at the mark on her forehead. "_You really are something to behold. It's a shame you're wasted where you are." _If she had wanted to figure out what he'd meant she should have asked sooner rather than doing her very best impression of some poor woodland creature about to be devoured.

Naruto, who she had been on her way to meet for lunch bellowed out her name from the midst of a gathering crowd-something that in most cases would have spelled trouble if she weren't already used to the following Naruto tended to attract.

_"__You should consider a longer visit to Suna sometime._" He'd said, stepping away from her. _"__It could be...mutually beneficial."_

Her face had been warm from the sun-or maybe the constant sand in the gales that buffeted the streets. Those were about the last of her meaningful interactions with him-the rest of that week was hectic and heavy on decorum. She'd been about at her wits end trying to keep Naruto in line-for someone who wanted to be the next Hokage he had an abysmal time keeping his damn mouth shut long enough to not insult anyone,_accidently _or otherwise. Sakura came home feeling like she spent more time bodyguarding Naruto from himself than she did Tsunade from any possible threats.

Sakura saw Sasori occasionally after that, usually whenever there was a mission that took her into Suna. Their conversations sometimes culminated in discussions about theoretical surgeries-he seemed particularly interested in her thoughts about the implantation of a chakra disperser. Though there was also the pointed commentary about this or that, Sasori was nothing if not witty in a venomous sort of way.

Elusive was probably the best word she could use to describe him. 'As a Shinobi should be.' In fact one might call him the very model of what their lifestyle embodied, for better or worse. Sure he could assassinate someone in ways that they'd never be able to prove were him if he wanted too and lose no sleep over it at night-but then again Sasori had a severe disregard for human life that made even _other_ ANBU uncomfortable. 'Although Temari said he's a lot better on that front these days.' Sakura wondered where the change had come from.

"It's about time." Sasori said. She'd only made him wait _years_. Even windswept and faintly pink from too much time in the sun she'd only gotten more lovely since the last time he laid eyes on her. Sakura only seemed to get better with age.

"Sorry, were you waiting long?" Sakura ruffled the sweaty strands at the back of her neck. Living in the desert was going to take some acclimating.

"Longer than I would for anyone else." 

* * *

There is a writer on Ao3 that's written a few stories in which Sasori is sort of on the side lines trying to creep in on Sakura's other relationships and it amuses me enough that I sorta wanted to take my own spin on it. I believe they recently uploaded a few of their fics onto as well.

This story is also known as "The one in which Sasori would steal Yo' girl."

"Stupid With Love" is basically referring to everyone in this fic lmao. Also a reference to Mean Girls on Broadway

Look, I'm slowly narrowing the age gap in my stories! At this rate there will be an actual same age au by the end of the year…I do not usually start stories without massive build up but I got like 5 other things going on( and counting) so I ain't got time for that. This thing is mostly just some light hearted fun.

Sorry to the Sauce fans but I still just cannot see Sasusaku in a positive light given how it's written in canon.….But to be fair Kishi was the one who said in an interview Sasuke couldn't handle Sakura so he deals with her by being absent as portrayed here. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

And also, Sakura is sort of at fault since when it comes to Sasuke she is very clearly weak.

If you're curious about timeline events I'm happy to answer though things more or less follow what was outlined in Bound Hearts, with the addition of there being no Uchiha massacre.

Some music for you to enjoy if you're interested in recommendations: Give Me Up-Babe

I like City Pop...its very retro feel good music. I'm also apparently incapable of uploading anything before 12am.


	2. The Definition Of Intimate

**Stupid With Love**

* * *

The first time Sakura had ever been to Suna she'd hardly had time to consider how run down it looked or how empty the streets had been-which could have been viewed as a by-product of a recent attack. But in the years that followed, the rare ventures that brought her through the gates made clear that much of the woes Suna faced were funding related. Money couldn't buy happiness but a lack of it could cause despair and disrepair.

'That being said…' Sakura thought that time and a good deal of money had done wonders for Sunagakure. The buildings would always look scuffed up on the outside thanks to the abrating winds Kaze No Kuni was famous for but the streets weren't as empty and there was more color than she could recall from the last time she visited. The shopping districts bustled with imports that they never had a hope of seeing in the past, brightly colored banners and cloth assaulted her eyes in the busier districts but above all else, the people didn't seem like the weight of the world was about to come crashing over their heads at any moment.

It was nice. There was just one teeny, tiny problem. 'Their economic boom means they have a little more money for things like say...renovating guest housing,' and right when Sakura was due for a long stay.

Don't worry, Gaara had said pleasantly after Sasori had escorted her to the Kazekage's office. We've already arranged appropriate accommodations for you. You might as well be family, therefore you should be treated as such.

In the spirit of being treated like family Sakura would be staying on the swath of property owned by the Kazekage Clan. It wasn't nearly as big as the Uchiha compound, they had less bodies to house but that just meant it was far more intimate. There were apparently three habitable houses on the premises, the first being where Gaara and his siblings had lived their whole lives, the second where Chiyo and Ebizō had moved in together and the third where Sasori had taken ownership of his childhood home.

Before she'd even arrived it'd been decided that since Sasori had the most free space it was only logical that Sakura stay with him. It wasn't unheard of, having to room with a client or in the company of local Shinobi when one stayed over in a foreign village-though the reason for that was typically mistrust and a desire to keep an eye on external entities. Sakura liked to think that wasn't the case in her current situation.

'Still, I thought Sasori wouldn't want to share his home with…' They weren't strangers. '...anyone,' she finished the thought.

Sasori had always seemed like the type of man who liked his solitude, the people whose company he kept the most were often those he just couldn't get rid of. Family, that blond guy Iwagakure had sent over in the hopes of improving relationships between the two villages. Although Temari has once whispered that it was more like they wanted to pawn off an absolute menace and make him someone else's problem for a while. In her letters Chiyo had outright called it an attempt at inter-village sabotage or something to that effect.

Without thinking Sakura found herself looking for rare splotches of greenery amidst all the earthen toned buildings. Cacti were a given and plenty of houses had them in brightly decorated pots, sat near entryways or on window sills. Occasionally there were desert roses with stocky, twisted trunks that reminded her of the bonsai Yamato liked to keep.

The further the two of them moved from the closely cloistered streets in which the buildings had been designed to let heavy shadows fall over passerbyers, the bigger the plants became like acacia trees with sharp thorns and date palms. At the point when they crossed into the area that marked the beginning of where the Kazekage clan retained property there were massive sprawling plants with silver-green leaves and dark purple flowers. Sakura paused to admire them and the faint scent they gave off when the wind hit them right. It was a type of sage if she recalled correctly.

Sasori had stopped just over the threshold of the wide stucco archway. "I suppose I should mention there is a private greenhouse on the premises...use it as you wish." he trusted her enough to give her free range of the facility.

"Oh, thank you." As it was the only other structure Sakura knew of was the one attached to the hospital and it had been tightly controlled the last time she had needed use of it. Everything taken was catalogued, who had used it and what for. 'It takes a lot of water resources and intense work to get some of those plants to grow.' and she could hardly think of a place that had round the clock plant-tenders on hand. He started moving again and Sakura took that as her cue to follow.

"If you follow the path straight you'll hit the main residence where those three reside, to the right, that old hag and her brother." The homes were not particularly far apart, like the segmented pieces of one massive house sharing a courtyard. Sasori came to a stop in front of a door.

Sakura was instantly distracted by the bright yellow flowers clustered by it. 'And you know, the genjutsu.' She could feel it disorienting the view and for a moment she wondered if the plants were a part of it. "Kai." pressing her hands into the seal did not make the blooms disappear but their color went from a distracting shade of yellow to a deep maroon. The haziness she'd been experiencing faded.

"Good." Sasori was standing in the open door already.

"You could have warned me." Sakura huffed, because whatever the Genjutsu had been made to do left her head aching.

"You're proficient in Genjutsu, I simply had faith you would notice on your own-which you did." Sasori grabbed her by the wrist. "Come along, you don't start work for another day but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to do in the meantime," he pulled her through the door and shut it behind them. "My workshop and lab are downstairs,If I'm not inside it's locked...if I am inside you should knock," for a variety of reasons, he certainly didn't want some mechanism he was fiddling with to misfire and catch her in the eye even if she could repair the damage.

Stripping off his sandals Sasori set them on the rack by the door before donning his house slippers. "Those are yours." he gestured to the white pair standing by. "The kitchen is in that direction, use what you like but do try and keep it clean and orderly."

Sakura flinched. "You don't really have to worry about that. I can't cook." The last part was mumbled under her breath, meant to be unintelligible.

"You can't cook?" He echoed but this time there was amusement in his eyes. "But you can craft complex antidotes...and rudimentary poisons from what I hear."

"Hey! They aren't rudimentary…I just prefer to focus on other areas." Sakura crossed her arms, tapping a slipper covered foot in a way that made his eyes focus on her slim ankle. "And that's completely different then making a meal."

"Strange, I find the process to be much the same." Sasori's head canted to the side thoughtfully. "I'll make sure to prepare enough for both of us." he said, hand pressing against her waist to guide her along. The foyer and living room spoke for themselves, the kitchen and attached dining room were accessed through one of the round doorways that were indicative of Suna's style.

As bare and austere as the houses tended to be on the outside, Sasori's seemed determined to make up for it on the inside. Overlying the stucco walls were intricately carved wooden panels decorating the walls like lattice, pieces so delicate they seemed more like bits of ornamental lace then they did creations carved from hard material.

Sakura was guided to the second floor of the building without much preamble. The one thing she noted was that the house was immaculate. 'He must spend a lot of time trying to keep the sand and dirt out.' Because she couldn't spot a speck of dirt. Sasori's room was at the very end of the hall, hers apparently across from the hallway bathroom that was designated for her use. There was another door that was apparently to an empty room that had yet to find a use and a set of steps that led to an attic and the roof.

In all it was way bigger than her parents house which was basically a townhouse in one of the shopping districts of Konoha. 'Then again my parents didn't come from prestigious families.' And they had retired from Shinobi life shortly before she'd been born to run a herbal shop that Sakura never took much interest in until after she'd begun apprenticing under Tsunade.

"Take a shower, take a nap." Sasori advised, taking in her haggard appearance. "You have all of tomorrow to unpack and run errands before you start work. I'll wake you when dinner is done."

Sasori's suggestions always had a way of sounding like orders, whether from their lack of tonal inflection or the succinct wording he employed. 'Of course it could also be that he's gotten used to giving commands.' Sakura thought, dropping her travel bag on the floor of her new room with a muffled thump. Most of her things were sealed in scrolls but she had a few changes of clothes and toiletries handy. 'And I honestly cannot wait to be clean.' Her skin felt gritty, salty and it stung just a little which really served to prove that she'd been too long in the elements.. She had a good idea of how she looked and it wasn't her best.

Sakura took a moment to admire the space though it lacked many personal touches; the bed linens were crisp and white and there was a deep red carpet overlaying the wooden floor. One glance at it and she could make out desert addaxes and lions lost among scrawling floral vines. 'Cute.' She had to tear her eyes away from studying the finer details to gather what she needed.

Towels had been left in the bathroom, which like the rest of the house, was immaculate. 'I can barely keep an apartment clean and it's only like...three rooms and a balcony.' She missed her plants. Pointedly ignoring her reflection because looking would only make her cinge, Sakura dumped her dirty clothes into the empty hamper and reminded herself to ask Sasori where she could wash clothes later. 'That at least is one of the chores I excel in.'

The first drops of water against her skin made her flinch. 'Definitely some sunburn going on...or windburn.' Her arms were pink. 'And that's what you get for wearing no sleeves in a desert.' Sakura chided herself, though she still found herself perpetually puzzled at how the rest of the people she knew from Suna managed to stay so pale and unphased by the lack of cover. 'With the exception of Kankurō, he's at least covered from head to almost toe.' Sakura mused and gingerly washed away her travels with soap under the steady stream of water.

Damp haired and dressed in cleaner clothes Sakura fell asleep on top the covers almost as soon as she hit them but not so soon that she didn't think of Sasuke. 'If everything goes well he'll be back in Konoha in less than three months.' It was a little petty of her but she sort of wished he encountered every minor inconvenience possible on his escort mission. 'Rain, sleet, mud...lots of mud.' And that the client was super annoying.

The question as to what Sasuke was going to do when he came home and she wasn't there had been going through her mind since Sakura left home. 'If these three months come and go and there is no word from him...isn't that a sign that things are over?' How much longer was she willing to wait for Sasuke to get things together, another two years? 'If I keep letting things go nothing will change…' And before Sakura knew it she'd be thirty and forever alone. 'That's just not going to happen.'

That was the one thing Sakura was absolutely certain of when she fell asleep.

Given her profession she had been trained from an early age to simultaneously sleep anywhere and wake up at anything, which was why she was honestly surprised to find she hadn't stirred when Sasori opened her bedroom door, nor when he'd walked inside. No, what broke her slumber in the end was the feel of his fingers perusing her cheek, sliding a few strands of hair off her face.

"Dinner is done."

Sakura blinked a few times into the gloom. "How long did I sleep?" Had it been so deep she hadn't heard him at the door, felt when he stood over her bed? Maybe that was just the difference between her and someone with his experience, though she wondered where exactly her skill level fell when compared to Sasori's.

"Long enough, come along Little Girl."

It had been a very long time since Sakura had felt it but having chakra strings cast over her body was not an easily forgotten sensation. If one strained against them or if the puppeteer was less than fluid in their craft one could be left with pretty sore muscles afterwards. 'Or if you're inexperienced and not sure how to give yourself into the movements at first…' Chiyo's aid years ago had been indispensable but in the aftermath Sakura's body had been left feeling stiff for a variety of reasons.

Sasori's back was to her but she could see his fingers twitch and felt her limbs move to comply. "That's just not fair!" Sakura complained as she followed the pull. 'What a dirty trick.'

One glance over his shoulder told her all she needed to know. Sasori just found the complaints amusing even though he let the threads disperse as soon as she was on her feet and moving. "You give control so easily." The way the words flowed from his lips almost made Sakura stumble. Low-toned, there was something almost appreciative in the way he was looking at her head tilted to the side and neck craned to watch her.

Nibbling at her lip as she searched the floor for her slippers Sakura supposed it came down to trust. "I learned from your grandmother it's better not to struggle." Though by the end she had mostly been moving unassisted the beginning had taken some getting used to. Her mind wanted her body to move one way but Chiyo's strings pulled her another.

"A shame I wasn't there for that." Sasori was down the staircase with smooth grace that seemed more like gliding than stepping.

'Show off.' Sakura humphed, it wasn't as though she was clumsy or anything-far from it but Sasori was like fluid all while seeming careless."You only missed what was arguably the more terrifying moments of my life besides, you did have a responsibility to keep this village stable." That fight fell right below the one and only time she'd had to resort to the Yin seal after some mercenary did his best to bisect her torso around the age of 18. "Speaking of which I do have a question…"

If the smell of his kitchen was anything to go by Sasori could definitely cook but Sakura found herself blinking briefly at the chair he'd pulled out to indicate where she should sit. "What exactly does a retired Kage do?" She questioned, finishing her query as she slid into the seat.

"Abdicated." Sasori corrected, because retired made it sound as if he were old and incompetant and that was about as far from the truth as things got. "And whatever he chooses." The neck of Sakura's oversized shirt was slipping down her shoulder, showing a difference in color between what had been recently exposed to the sun and what hadn't. Sasori's gaze followed over the line of her clavicle-it was more of her than he'd seen before, she'd always favored high collared shirts for active duty.

"Which would be…?" Sakura glanced down at the dishes before her curiously, there were stir fried vegetables in some variety, fluffy white rice, miso and a fish she didn't recognize with perfectly centered grill lines.

Using his chopsticks Sasori cut the fish neatly down the center. "More or less what I did before I was in charge of three brats and a village." Rare was the occasion someone could buy a man of his skills these days and he had no interest in anything B-rank and below. 'Even those are hardly worth my time.' he thought, passing half to Sakura's dish. "Puppetry and poison are an ever evolving craft, especially after someone develops an antidote to your life's work in less than an hour."

Most people might have been bitter about such an event but not him, no. It simply taught him that he had been complacent, that he'd been too long at the tip to remember defeat. 'And it was also the moment I truly saw what she would become.' Everything after had simply watered the seed that had taken root. To him, the more brilliant Sakura became the more beautiful she was.

Sakura offered a cheeky smile at the commentary. "It's not like it was easy." she hadn't even been positive it would work but there had been no time to second guess herself with Kankurō's life on the line.

"Nothing worthwhile ever is."

From across the table there was something in his gaze that Sakura couldn't quite grasp, the light of the kitchen turning them to something closer to bright amber than sepia. She swallowed a mouthful of rice. "So...you're trying to make a more deadly poison than the last one?" or maybe he already had, she'd crafted that antidote over 8 years ago. The fish had been cooked in something sweet and citrusy, a combination she appreciated.

The faint curl of his lips-a rare sight if she ever saw one left Sakura more startled than when she'd seen him at the gate. There was a time she'd thought seeing any Uchiha besides Shisui and Mikoto smiling was rare but with Sasori it was like witnessing a once every century cosmic event. He had smirks and sneers but very few honest smiles.

It reminded her of a self satisfied cat.

"If you're so interested perhaps I'll let you peruse my works after you're better settled." Her opinion was one Sasori would value highly. 'Of course there is also the running and maintenance of a spy ring.' But part of having one of those was that no one knew the workings of it but him.

It was in part due to those long spanning threads that Sasori knew quite a bit about Sakura's life in the too long periodds he went without seeing her, along with the more anecdotal information his family provided. Especially his grandmother's letters. 'Like that business with that Uchiha.' The stupid one-though that wasn't exactly descriptive since there were so many of them. "I also work pathology for the hospital, you might see me on the premises occasionally."

Allowing Gaara to take control didn't mean Sasori was content to do nothing with his time, he had a restless mind and idle hands were made for trouble-a fact he knew all too well.

"A man of many talents." Sakura teased over her miso bowl.

"And a master of each one." Sasori countered, one did not climb as far as he had on false modesty.

"Naturally." Sakura replied with a giggle. "Except maybe teaching kids. Temari told me about the time you got her stuck in leech infested water."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Still shrieking about that is she? I can hardly be blamed for that." It had been their first mission out of Suna-the first time the Subaku's had been allowed out of the village for that matter and they had ended up in some swampy marshland...and then Kankurō, the first to follow him across the sludge fell in and came out with leeches stuck to his face.

Temari, in disgust and horror, had refused to cross in a timely manner so he simply...expedited things. "All she had to do was walk over it." Gaara hadn't had any trouble mostly due to his sand creating convenient little footholds. After that Sasori had put them through the paces of refining their control enough to adhere to whatever surface they needed to under duress or otherwise. Of course that didn't help Temari recover from her leech-phobia. 'Not my problem,' Sasori thought. 'And it's not like Kakashi was much better to his three students.'

"And the time you ditched them in the desert for a week."

"That was their perception, not reality." He'd been around because only a complete imbecile would leave Gaara to his own devices surrounded by sand and two people he couldn't decide if he hated or not. "And it was a very good survival exercise."

"They got drunk off some weird cactus and Gaara almost had a psychotic break!" Sakura probably shouldn't have laughed when Kankurō told her that story-she'd seen Gaara at his worst first hand but...there was just something oddly funny about the way the events had been related to her.

"Gaara was always having a psychotic break back then." Sasori sipped at his soup, positively serene about the subject matter.

Sakura could have pointed out that he had not exactly been helpful in preventing them from happening but then again no one in Gaara's life had been, not even his own father. 'And no one was particularly helpful regarding Sasori's own issues…' over the years she had pieced things together from what was said and unsaid to which Sakura applied a generous helping of learned experience to formulate an opinion. 'Hard times breed hard men.' Chiyo had said that to her years ago regarding the man across from her and Sakura believed that.

It was stories like his and Gaara's, like Naruto's, Kakashi's and Sai's that made her want that children's hospital so desperately. 'So that the young don't have to suffer and fall, trying to figure out things on their own.' A place that specialized in catching and caring for wounds seen and unseen before they set into the break. "He's come a long way." Sakura said at last.

"Haven't we all?" Even Sasori was not unchanged. That chuunin exam from so long ago had been the impetus behind many things. Kankurō had joked that there was just something in the air around The Leaf that created major behavioral changes and while whimsical, it was a tempting theory to explain things.

The rest of dinner passed in pleasant silence but when Sasori went to collect the dishes Sakura grabbed his arm. "You cooked, I'll clean." It was only fair and she could at least wash and dry dishes. "...and later you'll have to tell me where I can do laundry." There was a nod of his head in assent and she let go, busying herself at the sink after gathering the remnants of dinner.

In Sasori's opinion the shorts she was wearing might as well have been nothing, smaller than the ones she employed as part of her active attire. 'She's likely to get cold in the night when the temperature drops.' they were about an hour off from that and while he wouldn't have minded keeping her warm he knew that such an offer would be met with refusal and future mistrust. Sakura would just have to learn about life in the desert the hard way.

By the time Sakura had finished and found the appropriate spots for everything Sasori had wandered off without a word. "Well," Sakura said, covering her mouth and the yawn that escaped. "Back to bed I think." She was stretched her way out of the kitchen, arms knotted over her head as she went.

"Girl, come here."

'Ah yes, Sasori the lurker of dark corners.' Sakura thought wryly and turned to the voice slowly. "You know my parents designated me Sakura at birth because that's what they expected people to call me." Her arms crossed over her chest with a hmph.

"And the doctors designated you as a girl at birth." With one quirked finger, Sasori gestured for her to come forward into the living room. The motion was backed by a phantom tugging around her torso.

Sakura's feet moved on their own though, passing by the shelf full of neatly ordered books and scrolls and beyond the deep purple couch that sat before a low table. "You can't just puppeteer me anytime you grow tired of wai-ack!" His fingers were cold and slimy, dragging across her cheek. "Aloe?" The scent and feel were easily recognized, but when Sasori finished one pass over her face the sight of him scrubbing the rest of the leaf into a sappy goo just proved it.

"Stay still."

Her eyes had slid closed when his thumb passed over the edge of her orbital socket and along her brow, face scrunched slightly at the cold residue being spread over calluses Sasori possessed were faint and likely from the work it took to craft puppets but his touch was gentle if not through. It felt a bit like having her features mapped by touch. 'Its…' intimate. That was the word for it because Sakura couldn't recall anyone having touched her as long as Sasori was in the face. Not even Sasuke.

By the time Sasori's thumb was passing between her brows and down the ridge of her pert nose Sakura realized it wasn't a bad feeling-if it had been she would have put a stop to it. The places where the aloe had already been spread suddenly felt warm and she was coming to the realization that maybe she was somewhat touch starved. ' Even if Sasuke and I have been dating for two years we've been pratically virginal.' being kept like a secret did not exactly make her willing to put out. 'Okay so our relationship wasn't...isn't healthy.' she could admit that.

It was around the time that Sasori's fingers came close to her lips that Sakura opened her eyes again and saw just how close the two of them were. The former Kage only had a few inches over her in terms of height and maybe a couple more pounds of muscle due to biological differences.'But height does not mean all that much when you make up for it in...intensity.'Which Sasoru gave off in spades; fingers splayed, cupping her chin and cheek, close enough to feel the heat of his body in the space between them. "Uhm...Thanks?" her voice sounded like a squeak and that was just unbearable.

She didn't quite have a comparison for the way that he looked at her, eyelids cast lower over his eyes the shadow of his lashes making them seem darker. It seemed a bit like the way that he'd looked at her upon discovering she'd created the cure to his poison, or maybe closer to that time he'd found her wandering around Suna to meet with Naruto on their protective detail. 'And he was just as comfortable feeling up my face then as he is now...' Sakura tried to recall if anyone had mentioned him being that way before but couldn't.

There was a 50 percent chance the warmth coiling its way under her skin was just her skin flaring up from the sunburn and not a blush.

"Be mindful of the sun." Sasori advised, taking one last look at the glossy coating he'd applied to her face. "And take this," He dropped a rather hefy aloe-vera into her arms, which he noticed she automatically cradled like a baby. "You'll probably have need of it again."

"Oh," Sakura blinked down at the succulent. It was heavy and over a foot tall. "Nice." they could grow to be about 3 feet and she promptly forgot-or rather forced whatever had just passed between them out of mind as she assessed the plant. There was a spot in her room under the huge circular window that would be just perfect for it. 'Actually there might be room for a few more…' A year was a really long time not to have any plants.

Sakura was clambouring her way up the steps but paused on the third one from the top as she remembered something. "Thank you." She turned to look down stairs where Sasori was wiping his hands off on a damp cloth. A part of her was glad the plant was big enough to hide her face behind, seeing his hands just reminded her of before and she hoped the thought wouldn't become a common occurrence. "And goodnight."

Sasori's head tilted in the dim light, the gold glow of the lamps catching the red of his hair and highlighting the various shades that made up the whole. "Sleep well."

Falling back asleep was easier said than done because even after placing her new plant, brushing her teeth and climbing back into bed it honestly felt like she could still feel him touching her. That and the temperature of the house had dropped and her legs were cold. 'Fuck.' Sakura huffed and threw a pillow over her face. She'd learned to sleep through worse things and eventually she worked her way into a nice velvety blank state of mind.

That bliss ended sometime in the early morning if the sunlight dapping across the carpet Sakura had thrown herself on when the house shook was anything to judge by. "What the hell?!" listening hard enough with her ear pressed against the floor she could hear familiar voices, mostly Kankurō, Temari and one she couldn't recognize. 'It's probably better if I get dressed before going down.' It was one thing to wear pajamas in front of the person she'd be sharing a house with for a year, another to do it infront of a stranger.

Sakura was a master at getting ready in a short amount of time, her morning routine was down to an art even if her settings had changed and she found her way down the steps and to the kitchen where the chaos was still ongoing in short order "Oh, Chiyo-baasama!" the old woman was at the stove, turning something over in a wok with her chopsticks.

The kitchen which had been just her and Sasori the night before was now full of the entire living Kaze-line plus two.

"Hello dear." The old woman greeted and pointed the sticks at a chair. "Have a seat." There was a thump from the table and Sakura saw that the blonde guy she vaguely recognized as Iwa's menace was face first on the floor, sprawled out in front of the empty seat next to Sasori.

"Here, now." Sasori pointed to the empty space.

"Sasori-No-danna!" The blonde whined. "I was there first, un."

"I don't even want you in my house." Actually he didn't want anyone in his house besides Sakura, but his grandmother had an annoying habit of sneaking in no matter how he tried to keep her out and where she went her brother soon followed. It was the same with the other three. 'And since they all know Sakura's here they're congregating.' It was annoying.

"Is it always this lively in the morning?" Sakura wondered, hesitating to take the seat that someone had been thrown out of. It sort of reminded her of meals with the entirety of Team 7 and that was pleasant and familiar. 'Ah no!' Sasori's threads were at it again and soon she was stepping right on the blonde guy and into the seat. "That wasn't nice!" She glared at the man next to her. It was bad enough being moved, even worse that he'd made her step on some guy's back.

Gaara scoffed into his tea cup.

"Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Kankurō wondered, grinning all the while. "Besides, it's only Deidara."

"Screw you too, un." Deidara huffed, picked himself off the floor and dropped himself into the chair between Kankurō and Temari. "So you're the one." he squinted at Sakura and shrugged. "I just don't see i-ow!" Someone had kicked him and it was impossible to tell who because at least three people were glaring his way and Sasori had his usual bland face on display.

Sakura noted that there were already several dishes littering the table with varying contents from sliced, fresh fruit to steamed rice and pickled vegetables to bread, jam and hard boiled eggs. Sasori took a cup from the center of the table and filled it with green tea, pushing it in her direction.

"Oh how cute." Temari cooed and then cursed when her own cup mysteriously tipped over into her lap. "Damn it!"

Ebizō flipped through the newspaper he was reading, although no one was sure how considering it looked as if his eyes were long lost within his wrinkles. "It's so nice to see everyone so cheerful in the morning."

"Yes cheerful." Sasori spat the words out like venom.

Chiyo set a large dish of fried, sugar sprinkled dough in the center of the table and Sakura looked at it with loving eyes. "Uh-huh."

"So good to see you again Sakura-chan." The old woman said, patting the girl's pretty pink hair. "I do hope you enjoy your stay with us." Preferably so much so that she never wanted to leave.

Temari hoped Sasori learned to share because he was going to be having an awful lot of family meals in the coming year.

And probably long after if things went according to plan.

* * *

I headcanon that Sasori would have been a jerkface Sensei...because he's just a jerkface in general.

This thing is basically Spring Fever but without babies on the brain and everyone gets their shit together much earlier in a canon-esque setting lmao.

Sasori: Yo girl, I heard you like plants. BAM. got one right here. It's also super useful...like me.  
Sakura: nice. -ignores him for plant.-  
Sasori:...miscalculated but ok.

Now if you are familiar with my writing and the fact that I like to sneak things from other stories all over the place you might be thinking to yourself: Hm, that plant is awfully familiar and Hm, does that mean anything?  
Idk fam. I just do not know.

PS: This was Beta'd by Tiny. Sakura so say thanks.


	3. A United Front

**Stupid With Love**

* * *

"Do not show up for dinner," Sasori warned them after breakfast came to an end. "And I am not cleaning up after you people." It was bad enough he was apparently stuck starting his day with them he had no desire to end his nights in the same manner. 'If they choose not to heed my warnings I can hardly be blamed if they get sick at the table.' Or worse.

Temari's eye rolling was not discreet nor had she meant for it to be.

Kankurō, after dropping his dishes at the sink, threw an arm around the back of Sakura's chair and pressed his cheek to the crown of her head as he batted his eyes. "But Sasori-Senpai, would you really deprive her the pleasure of our company?" He'd never quite gotten over his idolization of his cousin but that didn't mean he was beyond torment, not when Kankurō had about 24 years of salt he could dish out.

The withering look Sasori gave him was a pretty good indication of his feelings on the matter.

Sakura was more concerned about whether or not Kankurō's face paint would smear all over her hair.

Gaara cleared his throat, finding that Kankurō was approaching the situation all wrong. "Wednesdays," he said looking at Sakura over the folded peak of his hands. "Are for family dinners, we alternate venues and this week it's Chiyo and Ebizō's turn. You're more than welcome." It was an event Sasori had made himself scarce for ever since the rest of them had decided to pull together the fractured remnants of what could hardly have been called a family before the Chūnin exam years ago.

The Sand Siblings had learned all about manipulation at Sasori's knee from an early age and he had probably learned some measure of it from their Grandmother. Gaara was simply putting into practice what he had been taught and the both of them knew it. The number of times the poison-master had shown up to family meals willingly could be counted on one hand and they were usually the result of him wanting something. 'And what he wants is Sakura.' Therefore it stood to reason in Gaara's mind that his cousin's attendance would soon see an uptick.

"I don't want to impose." Sakura covered her mouth to hide the smile because she found the entire scenario to be adorable. The only other large family she knew didn't do much speaking during meals, it was considered impolite in the Uchiha household. Her present company were very vocal and most of it was harmless teasing...or it may have been outright insulting one another but they were all so thick-skinned no one took offense.

"Nonsense, we're having tempura this week in your honor." Chiyo tutted. "I'll be personally offended if you don't show up. Dinner is at 5:00."

Sasori didn't need to hear Sakura's affirmation to know the both of them were caught. She wasn't going to say no. 'Not when she's thinking of that witch as a nice old lady.' he'd been watching her throughout breakfast, the way she smiled and laughed so easily. 'One night a week is a small price to pay…' at least until he figured a way out for both of them.

"How come we've never had bakudan?" Deidara had only met Sakura twice in the two years he'd been in Suna and they had more or less been in passing, but for the life of him he just didn't get it. 'So what, she's kinda pretty. There are plenty of pretty girls.' And yet he'd never once seen Sasori's head turn for anybody the way it did for her. Every time the former Kage heard that she would be within the village he dropped whatever he was doing to make himself available. ' I guess that alone is proof enough he's interested in her.'

Deidara had been there when Sasori had gotten word that the leaf-kunoichi would be in Suna for at least a year and the look in his eyes had given him goosebumps. 'It was the same kind he gets when some trap he set gets sprung on whoever stepped in it.' Like the thing Sasori had been waiting for had finally happened, which from past experience hardly seemed like a good thing.

"Because you're rude and invited yourself, just like this morning." Temari scowled, ever since that time Deidara had managed to sneak explosives into Gaara's sand she'd been holding a grudge.

'It was just a joke and he was only unconscious for a few hours.' Deidara thought as he slouched into a sulk.

"Don't you people have duties to carry out or whatever it is retired, decaying husks do with their ample spare time?"

"As I am now, so you will be, So prepare for death and follow me." Ebizō quoted sagely as he turned the page of his newspaper.

"I appreciate that you've already decided on your epitaph." Sasori remarked drly and then glanced at his grandmother who sat on the opposite side of Sakura. "I was planning to have 'Liar' inscribed rather than your name, any thoughts?"

Chiyo only laughed like he'd told a joke. "Only that It's adorable you think I'm leaving you in charge of my funerary arrangements." She didn't want to end up in an unmarked grave or worse still, unburied. "Ebizō and I will be cleaning up this time."

Sasori declined to mention that he took no issue with defacing a gravestone or desecrating bodies.

"Oh see here, Scorpio's horoscope for the week reads as; If you truly want to get closer to someone, you have to lay your own desires bare. The kind of bonding you crave requires vulnerability. Uniting with others over a common goal will only bring you closer!" Ebizō tapped at the words pointedly, at least until the newspaper floated right out of his hands.

The paper fluttered across the room, flowing directly into the resident Scorpio's hand. He was naturally suspicious, Ebizō had a sly mind even if in Sasori's opinion age had dulled it. Still, putting it beyond the man to make up a false horoscope to suit the current situation would be foolish. Eyes flicked over a few lines only to find that the words were inked exactly as they had read. 'Not that I take much stock in this kind of screed but on a purely logical basis the advice is sound.'

"What does it say about Aries?" Sakura turned away from Gaara as he explained who would be giving her a tour of the hospital tomorrow, ducking her head close enough that her hair spilled over to brush against Sasori's shoulder.

"Be open to receiving advice as it relates to pursuing a dream. Your pursuits will help you realize what is truly worth chasing in life as well as what you should just let go of. It's never too late to realize your heart's desire..." The scent of her hair and the feeling of the individual strands were distracting to the point that his fingers twitched, head canting lower instinctually.

Sakura hummed and tapped her fingers against her elbow thoughtfully. "Perfectly ambiguous." she complained with a pout. "I mean I have tons of dreams, how am I supposed to know which one its referring to?" When she went to lift her head she was startled to realize how close they were. "Ah, sorry." And then recalling just how...touchy he'd been the night before she cleared her throat and rose from the table suddenly, pink cheeks visible for all to see. "I have, uh...unpacking to do."

"Great, I'll help. It's my day off." Temari spared a smirk for her least favorite redhead. "Don't you have a job?" She wondered in false sweetness.

"Several," Came the monotonous reply. Most of them could be completed without ever leaving the confines of his house if he were so inclined and Sasori found himself very unmotivated to venture far. He caught Sakura by the wrist as she passed by. "Lunch is at 1:00." Her insistence that she didn't need him to prepare every meal and could manage on her own was thoroughly ignored.

Following that chaotic breakfast Sakura busied herself with unpacking the things she'd sealed into scrolls for ease of travel. Most of the other attendants had departed shortly after finishing, Gaara to attend to his duties with Kankurō as on hand security and Sasori had likely left for his Lair of Evil as Temari had eloquently termed it in a whisper, Deidara sulking after him.

Temari's eyes were drawn to the lone green plant sitting on the seat of the large circular window that took up one of the walls in the guestroom that had never seen use before Sakura's arrival. "I see you've already started a new collection." She wondered how long it would take for the space to become overrun.

"Your cousin gave that to me." Sakura tipped her bag over and a cascade of scrolls, toiletries, rations and miscellaneous supplies spilled out.

Sensing that there was a story attached to that statement Temari prodded at it. "Oh? What for? That guy hardly gives anyone anything...unless you count a hard time." He gave that generously.

"I was sunburnt, he…" Maybe it was better not to mention that he'd applied it on her. Sakura unfurled the first of the scrolls and it spat a mess of clothing and junk she probably had not needed to pack out all over the floor. "Helped." She finished lamely, hoping not to be questioned further about it. 'Sasori put his hands all over my face and it was not awful and also not the first time.' She was not going to say any of that. 'I feel that I am far too used to artistic people doing weird things...' Like that time she'd woken up to Sai staring at her in the dark after letting himself into her apartment, hovering over her bed with a sketch pad in hand. 'He never did show me what he was working on.'

'Oh I'll bet he did.' The sly smile that threatened to creep over her face was tamped down, if she knew him less than she did Sasori's ability to be smooth might have been surprising. 'But he's always been good at acting.' To the point that it was hard to tell what was false and what was true. He was the same person who had told her that politicking and puppetry weren't all that different, they were in the end both about manipulation. 'He never had any problems smiling at a person while he plotted to put a knife in their back.'

Temari found herself lining up the nail polish bottles Sakura had spilled out across the floor by color and hue, a tick she shared with or had perhaps learned from Sasori. Most of it was green, sometimes with a metallic sheen and there were even a few shades of red. "So... things aren't going well with Sasuke? Uchiha pride getting in the way of things?"

Sakura's bedroom door slammed open, Deidara standing in the archway. "I'm sorry did you say Uchiha?"

"How long have you been standing outside my door and also, why?"

Deidara shrugged. "Curiosity, un. You're dating a Uchiha?"

"It's complicated." Sakura was surprised to find Temari's voice intermingled with her own only in complete mockery. "Hey!" She whipped one of the rare pair of pants she owned at her. It was starting to get old, having people copy her. "How do you even know about that…?"

The other woman shrugged right out of the way and finished her color sorting. "You've liked him since you were a flat chested genin and Ino might have been very drunk on one of my recent trips. Not that she needed to be...I have to be honest with you, for a secret an awful lot of people know about it." And what they were saying wasn't exactly the stuff dreams were made of.

There was a betrayed gasp as Sakura crossed her arms defensively. "I seem to recall that you thought he was cute too." And so had Tenten and basically every other teenage girl.

"Everyone thought he was good looking and cool back then...and then our hormones leveled." And in her case, Temari's brain began to speak in a language she could understand; Logic. She threw her hands up defensively as soon as she noticed Sakura scowling down at her chest. "Would you relax? They're bigger now. "

Naturally, Deidara's lone visible eye took a brief once over of the topic of discussion. "Yea, they're fine, un."

A strangled noise escaped Sakura's throat as she contemplated slamming the door on his face. "Thanks for noticing." Came the dry reply.

Deidara suddenly found himself very much in Sasori's camp and it wasn't for the man who insisted they weren't friends or even Sakura who he hardly had an opinion of but spite. Ever since he was 15 he'd despised the Uchiha. 'That bastard, with just one look…' In short he'd do just about anything to stick a needle in the eye of any one of them, metaphorical or otherwise.

"You."

Deidara's head turned to catch a glimpse of Sasori glaring at him from the end of the hall, quick paced steps eating the distance between them with threatening vigor and by the time he was moving he was already caught and dragged down the steps by his hair. "I spilled it by accident!" He hadn't. 'But I had planned on being out of the house by the time he finished cleaning it up…' Whatever Sasori had been making had eaten a hole right through the work table and then set about doing the same to the stone floor. 'This is all the fault of the Uchiha.' If he'd never heard them say that name he would have been out the window already.

"Does that happen a lot?" Sakura stared after them, cringing at every thud.

"Yes."

'Monosyllabic statements are apparently a thing in this household.' That was nothing she wasn't used to, the rosette sighed and refolded her pants, staring at them with a rather conflicted expression, like she wasn't sure if she wanted to throw them or cry. "No, things are not going great. Sasuke's got about three months before the damage is irreversible but don't misunderstand, I didn't come here just because of Sasuke." It was a part of it, not the sole motivating factor or even the major one. "I want a children's hospital but before I can ever get funding for it I need more experience." she quoted the word with her fingers. "The work I do here could go a long way in making that a reality and speaking not as a member of an allied village but as a friend; I am happy to do this for your village." The less she spoke about Sasuke the lighter she felt.

Whenever she spoke about it there was always a fervent gleam in Sakura's eyes, that hospital had been something she'd heard the leaf-kunoichi had speak about at least in passing multiple times over a few years, Ino often joining in as they tossed ideas about a facility that offered mental health services alongside the traditional physical treatments geared towards children and young teens.

Sakura wasn't like Naruto who wholly believed that some utopian peace could somehow be instituted, she didn't have that much faith in humanity even if she believed in him. She lived by the motto; hope for the best, prepare for the worst._ Maybe there will be another war in 10 years, or maybe it will be in 50, I don't know when but I do know I want to mitigate the damage it leaves behind however I can. Broken people seek to make the world reflect how they feel,_ Sakura had told her once and Temari knew there was truth to that.

'When I was younger I probably would have laughed at how soft that sounds.' Then again when Temari was a teen she'd giggled as Gaara crushed would-be Chūnin's in his sand until they were nothing but pulp and red juice. Lives beyond her own, Kankurō's, Sasori's and even Gaara's hadn't mattered and depending on the day they hadn't meant much but as distant and cruel as they could be to one another in so many ways all they could depend on was one another. 'I didn't even cry about our own father's death.' She hadn't known how to feel then and still didn't, so she simply felt nothing about it. 'No use in agonizing over a dead man.' Whatever words she had would never reach him.

There was damage between them all that couldn't be undone, though they all learned to cope the best they knew how, Gaara still had night terrors and barely slept, Kankurō had a new paramore almost every week, seeking constant affection that he could begin and end on his own terms. Sasori was...Sasori, strange since birth and made worse by events he was too young for. 'And then there is me desperately trying to make up for my failures as the oldest sibling, the one who allowed Gaara to be ostracized and never put her foot down.' The one who had been incapable of empathy.

The Temari that she was now could understand the value of what Sakura wanted to create, a better future. "I know and I hope you find everything you want in your time with us." She wasn't touchy by nature, most of those inclinations had been drilled out of her not long after her mother died. It was hard, knowing when it was okay to reach out to others when the majority of her childhood had been spent learning that feelings were a burden and affection was a luxury only civilians and nobles could afford. The other Kunoichi didn't flinch when Temari's arms closed around her. "Thank you." Sakura's startled expression only lasted a few seconds before she returned the embrace.

There were a lot of reasons why Temari hoped Sasori was as skilled in wooing a particular heart as he was in cutting them out. Maybe she would have been far less interested in the outcome if it were someone else that he'd set his eyes on but in her opinion what her family needed was someone exactly like Sakura. 'Someone who is more or less normal, who isn't all damaged and chipped.' Someone to round out their sharp edges, who loved easily and didn't scheme for power for the sole sake of having it. Ultimately Sakura was a person motivated by love in all that she did, which was about as far from her family's upbringing as it got.

"You're welcome…" Sakura replied nibbling at her bottom lip worriedly, she wasn't exactly sure what Temari had been thanking her for, she'd hardly done anything. The hug only lasted a few seconds and then the both of them were back to work, Temari clearly lost in thought as she moved on from the nail polish and began stacking books by color. 'I'll have to rearrange those later.' It was the thought that counted and she was not going to complain that they should have been placed by subject.

Altruism wasn't Temari's only motivator, Kankurō was currently not content with one person and Gaara was more than happy with familial love and did not seek romantic entanglements; it was enough for him to finally have that and Temari didn't see things changing anytime soon. 'But Sasori does have an interest.' And the sooner it came to fruition the better her own odds of the council allowing her to marry outside the village. 'It's a win for everyone.'

Suna got the brightest Medical-nin the world had seen since Tsunade, her family got the emotional unit they desperately needed, she got peace of mind knowing they would be in good hands when she finally married Shikamaru. 'And Sakura gets a guy who adores her so much he probably keeps a creepy shrine to her in his basement lair.' Temari had not yet verified that assumption because she made a point to never go down there after what happened to Kankurō but it sounded like something her cousin would do.

When the work was done, everything put in its place, or a close approximation to their more or less semi-permanent placement Temari decided to call it a day and made her own departure. Lunch came and it was after Deidara had to be all but thrown out of the house that Sakura wondered out loud. "What is the deal with you and that guy?"

"He's an idiot and there is no deal." Sasori groused as he arranged the placement of some garnish on the food he was plating. "He has no concept of art, he is loud and destructive for the sole purpose of being chaotic. Things that are ephemeral can be pleasant but the moment they are gone people forget. True art is something that makes an everlasting impression." He glanced at her as he spoke the last bit, placing the meal on the table.

"I see." Sakura didn't disagree with the statement. "Although, there must be things that are short lived but still invoke deep, lasting responses in people…" She clasped her hands and uttered the traditional Itadakimasu before picking up her chopsticks.

"Yes," He could think of a few things, but bombs and fireworks were not among them. As soon as the blast faded most people forgot all about the patterns they created and only had a vague construct within their mind of how they looked-if they lived through it and afterwards there was nothing but rubble and ash. Things with permanent shape and consistent form were far more memorable. "Like the trees you were named for," There were none in Suna but they were distinctive whenever he saw them. "They bloom for a short period but they come back each year. So, while they are ever changing they are also the same, timeless." Sasori appreciated how accurately her parents had named her in the same way his own had done for him.

There was something familiar in what he was saying, like she'd heard it before. 'Wait.' Sakura had heard it before, Sasori had more or less said the same thing when she had been in Sunagakure for Gaara's inauguration, when he had felt up her face for the first time. 'I must be misunderstanding something,' She decided, picking at the vegetables on her plate. ' Because there is no way that he is comparing me to art, I mean why would he?' She was about the least artistic person she could think of and the reasoning was completely lost on her.

Amused at the deeply thoughtful look that had overcome Sakura's face, Sasori took a bite of marinated pork. 'She'll figure it out eventually.' He wondered what expression she would make when it finally dawned on her. "You start work tomorrow."

"Mhmm." The meat tasted of five-spice. 'I want to be able to cook too.' Sakura cursed her mother for being a kitchen-dictator. 'She acted like anytime I fried an egg it was an attempt at annexing her territory.' But she wasn't suddenly about to try her luck using Sasori's kitchen as her proving ground...not yet anyways.

"Would you like me to take you?"

She choked on the next bite of food and fought to clear her throat. "No, that is very unnecessary. Not that I don't appreciate it." Sakura wasn't sure why he was offering but if she walked in with a former Kage the staff would probably take it as her flexing metaphorical muscles and that was an awful way to start her job. 'It would be like If I walked in, squirted lemon juice in their eyes and said look how special and important I am.' They would hate her for showboating like that.

Sasori wondered if he ought to forewarn her that there would be a few people who were less than pleased that they were going to under the thumb of a foreign ninja, those who had yet to relinquish past grudges even when the alliance between Konoha and Suna had been ongoing for seven years, going on eight. 'Even if I tell her it's unlikely to make her change her mind.' Instead it would just make her fret needlessly about making a better impression then she needed too. 'It doesn't matter if they like her or not, so long as they are civil and obey.' Sasori wouldn't tolerate anything less. "As you wish."

As it turned out it didn't matter if Sakura walked into the hospital on her own or otherwise, the hospital director; Kuyamu, An older, bespectacled woman who was somewhere around Tsunade's age and the person she was meant to work most closely with despised her from the outset and it was more than apparent. 'Ha! the jokes on you.' she thought, watching as the older woman dropped another fat stack of files on her new desk with a thud. 'Those unimpressed, scornful looks don't even rank fifth on my scaling.'

Those rankings were rather fluid and depended on the day. The first time she met Sasori with his You're-Not-Even-An-Amoeba-In-My-Eyes stare would have been at the top, followed by Tsunade whenever Sakura felt like she'd somehow come up lacking, especially in the early days of her apprenticeship. 'And then there is my mom.' She shuddered. Fourth would have been that guy who almost murdered her and fifth was Fugaku and his You'll-Never-Be-Good-Enough-For-My-Family sneering as he looked down his nose at her.

Nope, Kuyamu wouldn't rank on a list of ten the more Sakura thought about it. "Thanks." She did her best to smile pleasantly because she was used to people disliking her for arbitrary reasons and she had learned quite a bit of diplomacy at Tsunade's side. 'My forehead is too big, My hair is pink, My parents are nobodies, I'm weak because I focus on preserving life wherever possible rather than ending it, I'm the useless one out of Team 7, I'm a carbon copy of Tsunade without the fun bits, blah blah blah.' She's heard it all.

Sakura's office in Konoha had basically been a closet. "I'm pretty sure it was one at some point.' She'd been lucky to have one at all when she frequently left for missions and it was the opinion of the upper levels of hospital management that she was too young for a leading position. The more suspicious part of Sakura was sure there were politics at play there too. 'Because when aren't they?' It didn't matter if the Senju were essentially extinct or that Sakura literally had no blood in the game, her close ties to Tsunade and the fact that she had no large family backing painted her as an easy target.

'Not that I would ever complain.' What Sakura believed in more than anything was proving herself through hard work and steadfast dedication, that was how she had achieved everything else in her life and it was going to be the same in Suna.

"The Kazekage himself has assured me you are more than capable, therefore I'm sure familiarizing yourself with this material shouldn't take you more then a week." Kuyamu adjusted her glasses and the glare bouncing off them made Sakura flinch. "After you've finished I will introduce you to the department heads and you can begin your...queries."

Green eyes glanced back down, somewhere beneath the folders, binders and papers there was a desk in front of her. "Right," It was a lot to do within a week, but Kuyamu was mistaken if she thought Sakura couldn't get it done in the allotted time. A complete overhaul of Suna's hospital meant she needed to start with reviewing what was currently in implementation, from financials, protocols, equipment and personnel in an attempt to forecast what was needed so that a new budget for the expenses could be calculated. Tsunade was right to say that it would be good practical experience for what Sakura wanted. 'And then I have those courses to teach…' In all it was going to be a very full year.

There was a clatter across the room as the young Chūnin who had volunteered to be her assistant dropped some of the books Kuyamu had directed her to carry. Hakka, with her wide blue-grey eyes was the exact opposite of the older woman, she blushed and stuttered every time Sakura addressed her. 'And every time I try to make eye contact she looks away…' It was weird.

"S-sorry, Haruno-sama."

"Just Sakura is fine." But She's already said that about six times, to which Hakka had practically turned purple in the face as she stuttered about how she couldn't possibly be so disrespectful. "Or even Sakura-san." She wasn't used to being referred to so formally. 'I'm only like...6 years older.' Flipping open one of the binders Sakura set to work on reading Suna's clinical guidelines.

Kuyamu sighed, fingers pressed to her temples. "This display is pathetic, show some pride as a Suna-nin and stop fawning all over her!" She snapped at the Chūnin.

"B-but she's Haruno Sakura." Hakka whined.

'Wait, wait.' Sakura recognized that tone of voice, it was the same way younger kids talked about the Hokage, or Naruto, Sasuke and even Kakashi. A hint of reverence and awe for a childhood hero but she'd never once heard anyone say her name like that. The realization that she apparently had a fangirl of all things hit her like a thousand mini-Katsuyu raining down from the sky. "Huh." New didn't begin to cover it.

By Wednesday Sakura was a little over half through the review process and that was only because everytime she left the office she was sure someone kept sneaking in to add nonsense to the pile but she took a break to attend family dinner as she'd promised. 'I'll just come back later and pull an all nighter.' It wasn't a big deal and she was eager to watch the look of defeat wash over Kuyamu's snide face.

'Thinking I'd lose to a bunch of paper,' She humphed derisively, hands on her hips as she stood outside Chiyo and Ebizō's door. 'If she only knew how many medical texts I had to memorize and summarize in a two year period…' All while Tsunade played human-whack-a-mole with her. Before Sakura could knock the door flew open on its own. 'Puppet-Masters and their sneaky, tricky strings.' Lately she had been getting a little too used to things moving on their own. 'Papers, utensils, doors….my own damn body.' She was going to have to find a way to circumvent that last bit.

"Oh my, You're a bit earlier than expected." Chiyo tutted, peeking around a corner. "You're the first one here, so just have a seat in the living room."

Truthfully Sakura had left work a little early because as adorable as Hakka's idolization turned out to be, it was also exhausting. "As long as you're not asking me to cook I can help…Even I can chop vegetables and whatever else." Sakura offered, placing her shoes by the door before entering the house proper.

"Perhaps another night dear." The old woman shooed her in the correct direction.

There was a photo album laid open on the coffee table and Sakura didn't feel nosy at all glancing through it. It was laid out chronologically and she had to assume that the sleek, dark haired woman with a familiar face and the broad shouldered man besides her were Sasori's parents based on their features. 'His mom's frame and face, his dad's hair and eyes…' She wondered whose personality he had gotten. She made a cooing noise as she turned the page and caught glimpses of a newborn, skin pink and wrinkly. There was a noise from the entrance and she glanced up, squishing the book against her chest guiltily.

Gaara blinked back at her from the entrance. "I see you found the album." Collectively, their family didn't have many photos from their childhood. After Sasori's parents had died catching him in one became exceedingly rare and were often blurry. There were some of Kankurō and Temari before their mother had passed giving him life but there were barely any of him until after the Chūnin exams.

"Super adorable." Sakura just about sang the words, flicking the pages open to what was probably the only picture of Gaara smiling ear to ear, holding some teddy bear Yashamaru had given to him when he was three.

Cheeks and ears pinkening Gaara turned away, unable to think of a time someone had referred to him as such.

Kankurō, a few moments later, made a scandalized noise when he saw her with the album. "Oh no!" He turned to flee the room.

"Wait, no! I wanted to ask about the dolls!" Sakura called after him. Honestly, they were all disgustingly photogenic as kids.

"Those dolls were mine and he stole them." Temari scowled and caught the escapee by the arm, shoving him into a seat as she unstrapped her fan and leaned it against the wall. "Which is fine because I never wanted them anyway. I wanted a weasel that I could teach to bite people." But apparently that wasn't an acceptable 3rd birthday gift.

"Someday there will be payback for this." Kankurō vowed.

"Good luck getting any of my photos from Konoha." Sakura might have been enjoying the situation a little too much. She caught sight of Sasori stalking through the hall and couldn't help herself. "Hey!" A grin worked its way over his face as he turned slowly, eyes narrowing in on the book she held.

"You were pretty cute as a kid." Sakura teased, pointing to the picture of him at the age of four, without a care his young self was stuffing his face with a baozi that was probably bigger than his head. The image was taken before he'd had a real concept of death and loss, when the idea that one wrong move or poor choice could bring life to a halt wasn't even a consideration. It was before Sasori realized how different his thoughts were compared to most people. That age was far too early to contemplate meta-ethics and moral semantics, even for him.

"Of course I was." And while Sasori couldn't be classified as cute anymore, his looks had not taken a dive with increased age.

Pouting at her failed attempts at flustering him, Sakura huffed. "At least pretend to have some humility for the sake of us who were ugly as children!"

Dropping onto the couch beside her after a few quick strides, Sasori had her by the chin in a flash, tilting her face up to the light as he scrutinized her in front of everyone. "Based on bone structure there is no way you were ugly as a child." He'd been wanting to touch her for the last few days and she'd given him another excuse.

"I had hair like a sheepdog!" Mostly by choice in a vain attempt to hide her forehead. "And facial features change over time." Sakura tried to get a glimpse of The Sand Siblings-to see if maybe what he was doing was perfectly normal for him but found she couldn't turn her face away. If she had been able to she would have seen the wide eyed expressions the three of them were looking on with.

Shocked would be a vast understatement. 'It's one thing to know of his interest, it's another to see it.' Gaara thought. To him it was so forward Sasori might as well have been kissing her in plain sight but then again he wasn't particularly experienced with relationships. He'd only ever seen Temari and Shikamaru hold hands and that was all he ever wanted to see out of the two of them.

Kankurō's mouth hung open long enough that Temari reached out and shut it for him. 'It was weird when he started asking about her in roundabout ways, snooped through the letters she and grandma wrote back and forth for years under the excuse that it was for village security and dropped whatever he was doing whenever he heard she was going to be around, but this is so much worse.' The eldest of the three thought. Sasori hated touching other people. 'Or rather, other living people.' She didn't know what was up with that and didn't want to know.

"Pictures or I don't believe it." Sasori insisted, pinching her cheeks. 'To think you thought you were going to embarrass me. Impossible.' To be embarrassed one had to have a sense of shame and if he possessed it, he'd yet to experience the feeling. 'How quickly the tables turn...'

"Fine! I'll write home and tell them to send the family album." Sakura's cheeks puffed in aggravation, unsure if the blush was from anger or him putting his hands on her again, maybe it was both. 'Artists are weird.' She reminded herself as her arms crossed defiantly.

It was the faint curve to Sasori's lips that had Kankurō choking and gasping for air. 'Oh gods above, he's smiling!' He felt like he was going to throw up.

"See that you do, Little Girl." Because really, it was only fair play that Sasori got to look at her in her youth too.

* * *

Baozi are steamed buns and they come in a variety of flavors from sweet to Savory. Some ages since I was calculating it all out;  
Chiyo:70

Ebizō:69  
Sasori: 30  
Temari: 25  
Kankurō: 24  
Gaara: 23

Sakura: 23Happy Birthday again FireThatFox! Hopefully this is actually a little early lmao despite me taking forever. Sorry for the long break on updates, wrote a oneshot and then went straight into this. They should be posted around the same time, so it's like a double feature!

On that note I'm really bad, I basically shut down when I am in the middle of writing. I don't read, I barely reply to comments until I've hit a satisfactory point and I almost drop off the face of the earth excluding rare appearances on Discord...I am willing to share those deets if you're like "I want to talk more about Sasosaku." and "I just want to tell you, your writing is garbage and your views on these characters is wrong, ktnks."

In Spring Fever Temari is more or less a spazz case thanks to post pregnancy hormones and parts of this chapter are me writing her seriously or rather semi-seriously because almost all of my writing is "Somewhat serious". Turning Crimson is about Serial Killers and I still manage to sneak in points of humor which probably tells you a lot about who I am as a person...

Honestly, to people in Suna and specifically the Kazekage family Sakura is like a Saint. By 8 Sasori was just walking through a war destroying people, by what, 5? Gaara murdered his uncle Yashamaru, probably some random villagers and by 12/13 he was just killing whoever he was allowed to, Temari could laugh and giggle about it and Kankurō while creeped out just kinda shrugged it off and also had no issues killing people and threatening small children.

Sakura, if you're just going by Manga (because I despise the anime and the massive amounts of filler I refuse to watch to this day.) Kills when there is no other option afforded to her and she does not take delight in it. Her original plan wasn't even to Kill Sasori, she wanted to beat the shit out of him and probably detain him for Suna or whoever to deal with until he told her what she wanted to know and things escalated. After he's dead her response is more or less; "It's nice to be alive but WTF just happened and why…?" But to be fair that would also be my response after I met a guy who turned himself into a puppet and whose last words were basically a creepy flirtation.

The only time we see her actively seeking out a person to kill is Sasuke and that is a "For the Greater Good." the desperation move which she inevitably falters in.

There will be time skips, because like Sasori I have zero patience. Stealth edits after posting is my M.O.


	4. Devil Take The Hindmost: Part I

**Stupid With Love:  
Devil Take the Hindmost  
**(Part I)

* * *

Time was a commodity; the human lifespan was short and woefully fragile, a fact he had learned at an early age. Therefore Sasori did his best not to waste what he had even when he once had plans that could have subverted those worries if he were so inclined. Though that scheme of his had more appeal in his teenage years. 'Largely the work of imbalanced hormones and a yet to fully develop brain.' Some would argue early childhood trauma played a part but the last person who attempted to psychoanalyze him had to spend a 6th month stint in Suna's psychiatric ward. 'I clearly went easy on them.' Things could have been so much worse for .

In time and with age Sasori came to the conclusion that substituting one form for another wouldn't change what was on the inside and the process was probably not worth the sacrifice such as things were. ' Well, no one is as wise at 15 as they are at 30.' He had realized that just because he could do something it didn't always mean he should. Though there were plenty of times where some minor everyday annoyance made him reconsider the decision.

Sasori still valued permanence, believing that true artistry laid in morphing what was meant to be a finite thing into something that would endure more than a single lifetime but he now saw that one did not need to be immortal to be _immortalized _. To be remembered generations beyond his own, to be spoken of like a myth would be a testament to his existence. 'And my future offspring.' But those were a genetic legacy that wouldn't come to be if the only person he had a desire to create them with worked herself to an early death.

Sakura's focus and dedication to whatever task she set herself upon had always been attractive traits but not at the theft of time he was meant to have with her. At least once that week she'd been late to dinner, another night she'd skipped it all together. It was more than annoying, it was simply unacceptable. Sasori didn't begrudge Sakura her work or her interests; he simply wanted her to do it at normal hours and at a healthy pace. 'And if she doesn't come to dinner it just means that dinner has to go to her.' During which he would subtly remind her that Suna was not going to pay her extra for working late or finishing her mission early so there was no point in rushing.

The food had been packed into bento's and he set out, parcels kept steady through graceful movements and steady hands as he traveled. The closer he got to his destination the more crowded the streets became until he took to the rooftops to avoid the people below. In Sasori's more unfavorable critiques of his village he had noted that from up high it looked much like the mounds of a rather extensive termite colony sunk into the pits of the desert. Lamps cast a golden-toned glow across the cobweb structured streets below, growing more dense as he approached the hospital.

Suna's architecture favored rounded shapes and most of the windows were no different. Some were more oblong then circular but they were almost always large enough for Shinobi to use as entrances and exits as was their preference-doors were too conspicuous when one wanted to keep their comings and goings stealthy. The window that fed into Sakura's office was no different and it took only a little coaxing from his chakra threads to unlatch the lock from the outside, hinges opening as silently as his feet hitting the floor.  
_  
_It was not an indictment on Sakura's abilities that she didn't stir when he entered the room but rather a mark of his own prowess. 'A puppet-master's best work is done when they remain out of sight and out of mind.' The real threat was never the one that was obvious, it was the one that remained unseen and unfelt until it was too late to escape.

The room's lone source of illumination came from a desk lamp poised over Sakura's drooped head like a spotlight, the rest of the office cast in dark shadow. Before rounding the table Sasori had given some consideration to dropping the boxes on the desk loud enough to startle her awake in a passive show of annoyance but the thought fled when he caught a glimpse of her sleeping face.

Arms laced over the binder she'd been working in, Sakura's cheek was pillowed against the crook of her arm. Coral lips pressed into a faint pout as her eyes moved beneath the thin, delicate skin of her lids. it seemed to him as if even in her dreams Sakura was stuck reading whatever she'd been working on before drifting off. Her hair, longer than it had been when she was 15 spilled over her shoulder and curled against the papers below.

Sasori prided himself on having excellent recollection so it was of no surprise that he could recall with clarity the first time he took notice of Sakura and every time after.

_In the third match of the Chūnin exams Kankurō was set against some Konoha-nobody he could never be bothered to recall. The outcome had been exactly as Sasori expected even as he kept an ear and eye on the rest of the onlookers. He didn't trust Orochimaru or his second in command but Rasa had already made his decision, unwise as it was and things were to proceed as planned. Not one to ignore his own instincts, Sasori's head had been full of contingency plans in the event of an almost inevitable double cross._

_Even if he had not been looking for an excuse to work his way out of the oncoming mess, the loud complaints of one of Kakashi's more obnoxious students did not go unheard; "How is two versus one not cheating?!"_

_"To begin with, there are only two people in the ring. The other one isn't a person, it's like...a doll." The one with pink hair, looking rather like she'd been chewed up and spit out during 2nd phase sighed as she explained. Of those who had survived the forest she had come out looking worse for wear. Sasori's team had come out completely unscathed-also as expected._

_"They call it puppet technique, that doll he used was no different then you or I using a shuriken or a kunai. It's only a tool that he controls via chakra." She'd said. The explanation only stuck in his mind because ninja puppetry was a Sunagakure speciality in the same way the Sharingan or the Byakugan could normally only be found in Shinobi who originated from Konohagakure. A genin being able to recognize what she was seeing on sight meant she was at the very least well informed unlike her companion._

_"What a bunch of weirdos, dattebayo..."_

_"You're one to talk." Kakashi had replied and he, having not quite tuned them out could hear the girl giggling. "Ah, Sakura-chan...now's not the time to laugh. Take a look. You're up." The careless twittering stopped cold. Haruno Sakura Vs Yamanaka Ino was clearly displayed upon the screen._

_There had been some yammering about Uchiha Sasuke between the two of them that Sasori rolled his eyes at recalling because during that exam even Temari had subtly admired the boy for reasons beyond him. Most of what he recalled from that fight had been the two girls wailing on one another with fists and rudimentary techniques. The only occurrence of any substance was that Sakura had thrown a Yamanaka out of her head through willpower alone. It would have been a more impressive feat if it weren't clear how pathetic a member of the clan that other girl was._

_The match ended in a double knock out and so far there had not been a single Konoha genin worth noting. Even Hatake's little star pupil, the same one Orochimaru was so desirous of, seemed completely unimpressive compared to his own students. Sasori didn't think much of Sasuke back then and he thought even worse of him in the present day._

_Admittedly he had not thought much of Sakura back then, or anyone really._

_Temari had proceeded to the arena after that, taking a swift and brutal victory over her opponent. 'The old guard of Konoha are losing it if they think their genin are up to snuff.' he'd thought, recognizing how soft, how inexperienced they all were._

_It would later become clear to him that Hatake's team was also in possession of a sealed beast of which the vessel had better control than Gaara though he ran his mouth and fought in the most undisciplined manner Sasori had ever seen. Perhaps due to his unpredictability Naruto had racked up a win that would later turn to three if one counted his unofficial match against Gaara._

_The ninth match set his youngest cousin against the Bowl-Cut in green spandex. Gaara's defense was meant to be impenetrable-though there were ways around it as evidenced by the sight of it struggling to cope with the speed and force his opponent displayed after he'd removed his self imposed handicap. Using only taijutsu Lee had given Gaara a beating he had not expected._

_"He's gonna lose it." Kankurō had whispered in fear, sweat threatening to make streaks through the ridiculous paint he insisted on wearing._

_In the past, whenever the boy had lost control the methods to subdue him had always been more passive than out right aggressive. Smothering and suffusing the boy's sand with iron or gold, making it heavier to wield so that a sedative could be administered had been Sasori's preferred method. A sleep so deep not even Shukaku could float to the surface and by the time Gaara woke from the respite his control was better...for a time. The boy could go an unnatural period of time without sleep but eventually he too had to seek oblivion unwillingly or otherwise._

_Gaara took payment in kind for the pounding, crushing the boy's arm and leg. He would have taken more if it hadn't been for outside interference of Lee's mentor._

_"But why?" The sand armor clinging to Gaara's face was chipped and cracked as he clutched his head. "Why save him?" He'd asked._

_"Because he is my precious student."_

_Those were words that Gaara could not comprehend. Students meant nothing to Sasori beyond an investment of precious time and endless annoyances. True, he had never been particularly desirous to see them struck down or killed by their own stupidity, not out of sentimentality but due to the headaches and blot to his reputation such an occurrence would cause. That didn't mean they were important to him despite their blood ties. 'I do my duty to them and expect obedience in return.' It was a simple arrangement of give and take._

_Temari and Kankurō had both startled at the statement, peering at him from the corners of their eyes when they believed he wasn't paying attention. 'Idiots.' He'd thought, watching as a sense of calm seemed to wash over Gaara once more, prepared to walk away from the match he'd already won._

_Beaten and clearly out of his mind with pain Lee had risen to his feet, intent on finishing a match he couldn't win only to be held back by the teacher that had saved his life._

_"Sakura, don't!" Hatake's voice warned and Sasori turned again to catch sight of the girl, Unimpressive as she was, the girl was poised to lunge down into the arena. "Consoling him will only make this loss harder. There is nothing that you can say." A moment passed and the determination to defy her teacher faded into resignation, her shoulders slumping._

_There was a whirl of sand and Gaara filled the space between himself and Temari, face placid even when Sasori had no doubt that the boy's head was an invisible battleground. "Welcome back Gaara...I knew you'd win." The eldest sibling said in a rare moment of pride without fear._

_The boy made no noise in reply, lips twisted into a frown as he watched his opponent being carted off in a stretcher. "You've done well." Sasori had admitted. His student had taken an unexpected beating and retained his restraint despite its shaking foundation, a modicum of praise was deserved for it. There was an odd look one could have described as hunger in Gaara's eyes at the words and Sasori had assumed it was simply the Ichibi within him thinking of how it would like to snap his bones within it's maw. 'Best of luck.' he thought to the creature._

_It would be some time before he realized all the boy wanted was more praise, to be seen as something valued. Just like the boy he'd almost crushed._

_The last preliminary match wasn't even worth remembering-Sasori had only the vague recollection of some rotund child being blown into a wall by one of Orochimaru's little rats._

_There was a month between the preliminaries and the finals his students were slated to fight in. A month Sasori spent doing subtle recon around the village and spreading out his threads, trying to get ahead of whatever Orochimaru might have been up to and anyone else who might realize too soon that Sunagakure was making moves in the shadows. He hadn't wanted to be blindsided from any angle and he certainly did not want to be caught between two forces. Which was why when a Konoha-nin was found to be spying, he'd assured Kabuto that he would kill him only to do a bit of double crossing of his own._

_"You're one of the proctors." Sasori had said upon studying the coughing man. "You picked an awful night for moon viewing."_

_The blade being pulled from its scabbard hardly made a whisper. "I don't know about that...I certainly saw something illuminating."_

_It was over before it began._

_Sasori didn't bother unsealing a puppet-he had no intention of a full on fight, not yet at least. The throw of a senbon, so thin and so light it was more for acupuncture than for combat was neither seen nor felt when it was embedded with pin-point accuracy to the man's neck. While the drug slowed his movements Sasori twisted from the blade, waiting for the inevitable collapse. It took two minutes of artful dodging until his opponent dropped. "It won't kill you," He admitted, crouching over the prone man's form. "But I do have to make things...convincing." The kunai he'd fished from his side pouch caught the light, the image of it was reflected back to him in the man's dark eyes._

_"A missing limb is a small price to pay." The drug the senbon had been drenched in numbed and paralyzed the body but not the mind. "By now you know that Sunagakure and Orochimaru are working together and considering he used to be a member of your village you ought to know best of all what sort of person that man is." Sasori made quick work of severing the man's arm from the elbow down. "By the time your senses have returned Konoha will either have been crushed, or Suna will have been betrayed. If it's the latter, You'll be my insurance." And if it was the former he could always correct his choice._

_He kept Gekkō sedated the rest of that month, hidden away in some hole in the ground as he waited to see which way the winds would blow. Time would prove him right about Orochimaru, the man was brilliant but loyal only to himself and his goals-a trait that Sasori might have sympathized with if the events hadn't threatened to pull him down too. Truthfully he had admired the man's mind on many levels but despised his predilection for chaos that went against his orderly preferences but the thing Orochimaru was most guilty of in Sasori's eyes was that the snake thought he could lie to him and get away with it. That was the worst sort of sin._

_Sakura probably didn't recall that he'd come into her family's herbal shop after running low on his own ingredients in treating the missing limb of one of her village comrades. It would not surprise him. She hadn't bothered to look up from the Genjutsu scroll she'd been laboring over even as she measured out the wormwood and goldenseal he'd requested. Sasori remembered because he'd already made a judgement about her skillset and it didn't include aptitude for genjutsu. 'Not when it requires advanced intelligence and precise control.' He'd thought._

_To his future delight, Sasori turned out to be very wrong about those assumptions._

_From the offset he'd disagreed with Rasa's decision to ally himself with Orochimaru, he'd argued strongly that rather than pitting themselves against Konoha and running the risk of another war when they were already in crisis they should simply get rid of the source of their problem; The Daimyo. It would have been a simple thing for the man to have an accident and to raise one of his bastards to the position. Then Suna would have a more sympathetic, more easily controlled purse holder. Everyone but the dead man would benefit._

_His uncle had disagreed; it was dishonorable Rasa had said when considering the alliance Orochimaru had proposed. Sasori had nearly laughed, the idea that a man who had willingly sacrificed his own wife and child thinking he knew something about honor struck the chord of his ironic sense of humor. Rasa, who thought what he had done to his own son was justified by his village's desperate straits somehow considered assassinating a Daimyo beneath him. Even to someone like Sasori the man's priorities had seemed skewed but that decision was one that would end his uncle's life._

_The Yondaime Kazekage may have been his uncle, but there was little tying them together beyond shared genetics and an unwanted responsibility on his part to three children. Sasori had always been of the opinion that if one were to do something, they ought to do it to the best of their ability and he applied that mindset to mentoring them even if he were unenthused at the idea from the offset._

_Sasori, as in the way his nature dictated, made his own plans aside from the orders he was given. Afterall, One never got far if they simply did as they were told and nothing more. He didn't mourn his uncle's death when word was delivered by one of his contacts. Instead he took silent offense to Orochimaru wearing Rasa's face, as though he wouldn't notice the discrepancies._

_The news of their father's death was kept from his cousins, He didn't need them any more emotionally charged or stressed then they already were-not with how things were shaping up. It would have been poor management with low yield results so Sasori gave them new orders to carry out as soon as Kabuto made his move. They were to leave without causing any casualties so that whatever destruction that ensued would be done by Orochimaru and a dead Kazekage._

_"I don't understand the original plan was-"_

_"You don't have to understand. You only have to follow orders, Kankurō. Don't make me repeat myself." Sasori sipped his tea the morning before the finals, face placid as he took in the confusion on the middle sibling's face. "Gaara." There was a far off look in the youngest's eyes that never boded well._

_Teal eyes dragged their way from the wall they had been staring at._

_"Maintain yourself." The words were sharp, but his eyes were sharper and a long prolonged period of eye contact ensued. Gaara blinked first and he moved on to instructing Temari._

_Temari only scowled and waved her hand. "I already got it. Kabuto gives the signal and we drop everything and wait for you at the rendezvous point." She had always been the least fussy of her siblings, but also the most willing to take an attitude._

_Sasori would later stationed himself in the stadiums during the final match and he had a clear view of Gaara's control splintering just as Kabuto had dropped a high level genjutsu over the stadium and spectators. Civilians and shinobi alike fell into a deep sleep beneath falling feathers. The majority of those who resisted the sway were Chūnin level or above. Sakura was awake and aware as her village descended into discord and he set his focus on mitigating the damage._

_"What on earth is going on?" The instructor that he recognized as stepping between his student and the Bowl-Cut spoke._

_"Are you lot that slow on the uptake? Your village is being attacked." Sasori had sneered, watching the oto-nin that were fast approaching. The scrolls that sealed two of his own puppets unfurled, sounding like silk snapping tight as they exploded into smoke. He would scale the level of puppets up as and if needed. Orochimaru's foot soldiers were going for the weakest first, but they never made it. Instead their heads rolled with the swing of a spring loaded blade. "I guess you're not completely talentless after all." He could admit that his first assumption in the herbal shop might have been wrong if she'd managed to avoid falling prey to the genjutsu._

_"Did you know about this?" Hatake wondered, the lank way he held himself was a lie to the tension in his eyes._

_Sasori could remember shrugging, fingers still directing his puppets. "It's not as though you didn't have your suspicions, you knew Orochimaru was lurking around and you still allowed things to proceed...and now the boy's racing off on his own, giving that snake a perfect opportunity." The copy-nin tensed, but realized that he had no need to defend himself against the puppet master and turned to dispatch his own round of enemies. "By the way, I know where the person formerly attached to that arm is." He might have smirked at the stiffening of the jounin's shoulders._

_Hatake breathed deeply, lone eye flicking to give a look of annoyance in his direction even when they both knew how ineffectual it was. "Sakura, nullify the genjutsu on Naruto and Shikamaru... it's been awhile since you've had a mission and the one I'm about to give you is an A-rank. Your first since Wave country."_

_The notion that she'd been on any A-rank missions had been surprising. She'd seemed too soft, too inexperienced._

_"Is this really the time for that? What kind of mission?" She'd asked, crouched behind a series of seats as bodies were launched over her head._

_"Sasuke is in pursuit of Gaara and the others from Suna...you are to wake those two up and track him down- he can't be left on his own as things are."_

_Sasori almost laughed. "I told my students to vacate this village peacefully. Gaara may be in...the throes of something but I highly advise you don't chase after them. Are you trying to get your entire cell killed? Better to lose one rather than all three along with someone else's student." In his opinion it was careless of the other man._

_"Forgive me If I don't take your word for it Akasuna No Sasori."_

_"You're a complete dunce Hatake." He'd replied before turning to Sakura. "Little Girl, you'd best stay out of Gaara's way if you want all your internal organs unruptured." That was the only advice he had to give._

_Sasori would go on to hear from his students how she had completely disregarded his words and nearly gotten herself squished to a pulp of flesh and splintered bone. "She reminded me of Yashamaru…that look." Gaara had said, palms pressed to his eyes._

_"I can't make up my mind on whether she was brave or supremly stupid." Temari mumbled under her breath. "To hold her ground against Gaara like he was…"_

_Stupid had been his assumption, what sort of idiot out their life in danger for someone else? It seemed to be a disease Konoha-Shinobi were replete with. _

_"He said that we...were the same. That what gave him purpose, what chased away the emptiness...were those around him. I want to become like that." Gaara had whispered and from that moment on Naruto became a guiding star that his eyes followed. His idolship was so great he wanted to become Kazekage and spent a few weeks scowling when he heard the position was to go to his elder cousin instead._

_Hubris had not been why Sasori had assumed that Suna's council would seek to make him the next Kage when they became in need of one. He was the oldest and in his veins ran the same blood as those who came before him. He may not have been in possession of Magnet Release himself but the probability of his offspring possessing it were as high as his three cousin's. Not that he had ever needed it, the third so graciously donating his body to Sasori's...research as he neared the end of his life had put the bloodline limit into his arsenal even when biology had decreed it not to be._

_20 at the time, he was more experienced,smarter and certainly more stable than the other options. 'And the strongest.' In the end it was obvious to him who the task of leading Suna would fall to and while Sasori personally preferred to lead from the shadows and work unseen from the sidelines there was a certain allure that came with the thought of rebuilding things as he pleased. There would of course, be many times in which he cursed his decision not to fake his death during the failed invasion._

_"You should have expected this." He could recall telling Gaara at the time. "You are not even 13 and until recently you were periodically insane. If you want to become Kazekage so badly you ought to show them you're capable of it." Sasori may have had a rightfully gained reputation for a lack of care regarding his fellow human beings but he was also known for being logical and more or less sane where it counted. He'd never committed a barbaric series of murders and massive destruction of property in his own village. "Stop making faces at me and go mend bridges or whatever it is reformed psychopaths like to do. I have actual work."_

_The family dinners started shortly after that conversation to his great vexation._

_Time passed and both Sunagakura and Konohagakure took on new Kage's, both fifth in the line. Overtures of peace were made through intermediaries and letters. He even sent his students as support when Hatake's little Uchiha left seeking Orochimaru-news that he might have had a mental laugh over. 'For all that talk about trash abandoning their comrades it turned out he was favoring a piece of garbage all along.' Meanwhile he'd let Sakura and the other one languish under his poor care. 'Although I suppose In the end everything was as exactly as it needed to be.' The woman he coveted would not be who she was otherwise._

_Sasori had a very low opinion of the vast majority of people he had the displeasure to meet and Sasuke was no exception even before his eyes turned to Sakura in a less than clinical manner. 'I don't begrudge a person wanting to leave their village but that boy is soft in the head and high on unearned arrogance.' He was of the opinion then and now that everything had been handed to Sasuke in life and that he had never actually worked to receive any of it. 'Several of his own classmates nearly died retrieving him and if it hadn't been for Suna's intervention…' Sometimes he regretted the day he'd given his students leave for that mission._

_Still, returning and retrieving the boy had gone a long way in smoothing things over in negotiations just as sparing Hayate Gekkō had been intended to do-though to date the swordmaster was still complaining endlessly about his missing arm. While talks were proceeding cordially it was decided that nothing would be committed to until the new leaders spoke face to face. 'Of course Tsunade's wording was a little less civil.' The then new Hokage had written that she only dealt with conniving two-faced bastards when they were in the same room as her. Which in his opinion was a perfectly good rule of thumb._

_Which was exactly why he came upon Sakura in their next meeting-surprised once more to see that girl sitting in the hallway, propped up on a stack of books bigger than she was with her face buried in the pages of some massive tome. It'd been almost a year but he had a good memory and noted her hair was longer than the almost boyish mess it had been the last time he saw her. His eyes glimpsed the title of the book, more than familiar to him considering he'd spent a fair bit of time studying it in his youth._

_A page was flipped and even though he was clearly standing and staring she didn't bother to look up. Clearly mistaking him for someone else because when she finally deigned to speak to him it was without even a modicum of respect. "Shove off pig."_

_Sasori was rather sure that was the first time he could recall ever being referred to as such a creature. "My, haven't you gotten mouthy little girl." The moment she looked up and realized who was standing in front of her, the color bleached from her face and the dark circles beneath her eyes made them seem all the wider as she glanced up in horror._

_"I uh...didn't mean you." The expression she'd been making morphed, lips twisting into an awkward smile._

_Obviously. "Does someone like you even comprehend what they're reading?" He'd asked because while he had already recognized that she wasn't completely stupid Sasori was not sold on the idea that she'd be able to put into practice what the multitude of books and scrolls she was currently surrounded by contained._

_"Like me?" Sakura's teeth were bared for a few seconds as she parroted the words."And yes, I do understand it." Her eyes were fiercely narrowed at him, hackles raised._

_If she were so confident there was no reason not to test her. "There is a person suffering from the effects of a chemical nerve agent, what in you opinion could be the main ingredient within the cure?"_

_Sakura hadn't hesitated with her reply. "Atropine, which can be found in mandrake and other species of nightshade alone with pralidoxime chloride injected into the muscles-repeated treatments might be necessary for best results."_

_It was a more in depth answer than he had asked for but most importantly it was correct. "Adequate." Sasori was once more in the midst of reevaluating his opinion of the girl he kept selling short when the door to Tsunade's office swung open. "Why," he'd asked in the middle of the meeting when the subject of students came up. "Is that genin parked out your door looking like she's about to be buried under reading material?"_

_"My new apprentice." Tsunade had shrugged and drank the Sake he'd refused to take. "Stubborn little thing...Honestly when she first came to me I assigned her more material than I thought she could possibly learn in a week all in the hopes it'd scare her off. Sakura came back four days later and asked for more." She gave a short laugh. " How could I refuse that talent and dedication? And she kinda reminded me of myself when I was just a kid. Desperate to be something more than I was, it wasn't easy being that man's granddaughter..."_

_"Just because she can memorize the information doesn't mean she can utilize it under pressure."_

_"Oh," Tsunade had grinned, all teeth. "She can, I'd know; All her exams are given under simulated combat conditions. Give Sakura a few years and I bet she'll give you and your granny a run for your money."_

_"The old bat? Maybe. Me?" Sasori didn't even bother to mask the ingracious curl of his lip. "Never." he'd scoffed. "You should refrain from making bets with your reputation."_

_Scowling at the mention of her propensity for losing, her cup hit the table with a clack. "Why the interest in her?" Tsunade had wondered after a moment. "Did she say something to you?"_

_"Her tournament match in the last Chūnin selection was embarrassing." After a moment he reconsidered the indictment and added to it; "Most of Konoha's genin were. I simply expected more from Hatake's students."_

_Taunade made a vague noise that sounded somewhat like a muffled snort. "A Student needs a proper teacher to truly cultivate their talents, Kakashi is a good Jōnin...but I think his own experiences clouded his judgment when it came to teaching. Despite those shortcomings I think he taught her quite a few important lessons."_

_Sasori spent very little time considering what those lessons were but since their talks were scheduled to take place over a series of days and Sakura seemed permanently camped outside the doors he took the time to see just how knowledgeable she was on the information she was consuming. Everyday it was a new question and out of the five she'd only been wrong once._

_"No." He'd said, regarding her answer about some formulae-the reply was a droop in her shoulders. "Using suma root would negate the sedative properties. You have until I finish this meeting to figure out a more appropriate combination." None of his students had any skill in biological sciences like chemistry. Kankurō tried for a time but he'd been a poor student with a mind more inclined towards machinery as such Sasori's vast expertise in the area was seldom shared and he never begrudged a person's attempt at remedying their own ignorance._

_Sakura had seemed surprised at the leniency but nodded once and went about studying the long list of ingredients she'd written out. By the time he had returned she'd come up with a more acceptable answer._

_"Valerian and Columbine." She'd piped up, teeth worrying her lips._

_"Better." He couldn't recall any of his students smiling like that before-then again he'd always taught them that showing too much emotion was like giving someone a primer in what made them tick. Sasori acknowledged that the girl was at the very least clever under the right tutelage._

_At the end of that week Sasori caught sight of her walking the hallways, clothes tattered and working a series of rather large splinters out of her forearm. "Losing fights with trees now?" her hair was a tangled mess and there was dried blood flecking off from where it had dripped down her chin and neck. Apparently too tired to muster the effort it took to glare at him as she'd done the last time he'd mocked her abilities Sakura grunted in reply._

_"No, more like I lost to the person punching trees and turning them into shrapnel, expecting me to dodge every little piece...and then hitting me in the gut when I follow my protect-your-eyes instinct…" She sighed when the piece of wood was worked out of her skin and tossed the bit into the trash. "Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, I understand how important it is that I avoid taking as much damage as possible...A dead medic doesn't heal and all that. It's just such a pain. Literally. " her hand took on a green glow as she laid it over the gaping hole. "I really only have myself to blame for not moving faster."_

_It had not been long since Sasori had last seen her and she was already on to using Mystical Palm-there were not many in Suna who could use it and even less who did it well, one of which being his grandmother. "It seems that you thrive under a more brutal training regime." If he knew anything about Kakashi at all it was that he was probably as unenthused about training a team as he had been, only Sasori made an effort to do even the things he hated well._

_There was a blink and a tilt of her head as she considered the comment. "I guess I do." Sakura giggled, the hand ruffling the back of her hair loosening a few twigs and leaves to scatter the floor. "Makes for good practice, knowing that it's going to hurt if I fail to dodge…"_

_"Sasori-sama?" Shizune called from the open doorway she was standing in. "Sakura, Tsunade-sama said you did well today. if you still need help with the rest of that, come see me later."_

_Sakura's hand stilled and her eyes went wide. "She did? Ah no, I'm fine there are no broken bones this time." She bowed in his direction and then skipped off humming to herself._

_He couldn't recall seeing someone so happy to be used as a splinter-pin cushion, but it might have been that she was more pleased to be covered in wood slivers rather than sporting broken bones._

_Things steadily improved between the two villages, Suna became the next host to the upcoming Chūnin exams. His own students had received field promotions from unbiased parties. Promoting them himself ran the risk of putting their skills and readiness into question and he could never have that, not when it would have reflected badly on his own talents._

_One of his first orders of business had been to alleviate the fiscal issues that threatened to capsize the village, Rasa had been driven to desperation by those issues but Sasori, having run the risk-reward ratio in his head a few times over had come to a solution and all he had to do was bide his time and then whisper in the right ear. In the meantime he made nice and smiled like he wasn't planning an assasination. It was easy enough and in the interim he used the network he'd created to supplement Suna's budget. Information could sell for a higher price than gold to the right buyer._

_Suna's hosting of the exams went far smoother than Konoha's, by the end the casualties only numbered around 4 and one was a complete accident. Some pathetic genin from Iwa had managed to get bitten by a scaled viper during the 2nd phase of the exam and the time to administer the antivenom had simply run out on them. As much as he enjoyed watching adolescent children and teens beat one another near to death Sasori did not enjoy the extra work._

_Using Sandaime's abilities to create a third eye had proven tricky in the early days of wielding his creation, back when he had first begun to test the limits of what his volunteer subject could achieve but as with most things, practice made perfect. There was a slight downside in that the consumption of chakra was greater than it would be in one who naturally possessed magnet release and so he shared the surveillance duties with the only other resident user._

_"One of the teams has encountered a giant scorpion." Gaara paused, finger pressed over his lid in concentration._

_Giant was a bit of a misnomer, they were massive. Bigger than elephants, twice as long and exceedingly rare with carapaces as hard as thick iron plates. Their venom was not particularly strong, acidic enough to melt flesh with prolonged exposure and due to their size the amount produced was rather large. Sasori had hunted one years ago and used the shell to craft Hiruko._

_Gaara's shoulder's stiffened for a moment. "It's dead." He'd said, blinking and dispersing the view of whatever he'd been witnessing. "...I should apologize."_

_The statement confused Sasori because he certainly would have remembered being wronged by someone, then he thought for a moment that the statement regarded the attempt his cousin's kept making to ambush him at dinner time. "I don't accept." They were increasingly annoying, bringing their grandmother into things with their sudden desire for a more harmonious family. He'd been fine with how things were before, preferred it._

_"I didn't mean you, I meant to Naruto's teammate." Gaara had been upset to notice that the other boy was not in attendance. "The one I almost killed last time...I don't remember her name." If Sasori were more familiar with the emotion he might have recognized the tone his former student spoke in as shame._

_The idea of apologizing to someone for almost killing them, or even fully killing them was a new concept he didn't have a taste for but he reasoned that perhaps what Gaara should feel bad for was losing control of himself-Killing and being killed were built in to their lifestyle but the lack of discipline he'd displayed was a disgrace. "Haruno Sakura." He'd found it prudent to know the apprentice of a fellow kage and he'd seen and spoken to her enough to memorize it even if he refused to use it. "...She killed the scorpion?"_

_"Hm."_

_Further details had not been forthcoming but the question of how would become clear later. _

_There was the customary month-long period following the second phase, time for political figures to make the trip if they were so inclined. It was somewhere at the end of that pause, just before the tournaments were set to begin that he happened to hear Gaara's attempt at apologizing._

_In those days It wasn't uncommon for Sasori to overlay himself with a genjutsu in an effort to avoid people he didn't want to deal with-which was most people. For whatever reason the moment he became Godaime half the village seemed to take it as a license to bother him with complete nonsense. They seemed to think that just because he had to be civil to foreign leaders he'd suddenly be more personable to everyone else._

_A complete mistake on their part._

_He walked hidden among the streets to one of the few shops he trusted enough to consume anything from. It was mostly lingering childhood attachment, the familiar taste of the lotus buns and setting that made him partial to the spot. _

_Sitting at one of the shaded tables with her two replacement teammates, Sakura stared up at Gaara and his flanking siblings, shock plain on her face. The agar jelly to her anmitsu slid off her spoon. "I'm sorry, what?"_

_"I am sorry for almost killing you...and that other one."_

_"Which other one?" The girl next to her snarked. "Sasuke-kun, or Lee-san? You know she had bruised bones and-"_

_"Ino-pig." Sakura shushed her with a raised hand and stood from her seat. The fat one simply looked on, mouth stuffed with sesame balls to the point he looked like a chipmunk_

_"Both of them..." Gaara's body was still as a stone. " I understand that in our line of work there will be times I have no choice but to kill but that was not the case then. I was..." Whatever he meant to say was cut off by the peaceable hand held between them._

_"These guys, after Sasuke-kun had his...episode, they came to help. Without him, without them people could have died. What happened before that doesn't matter," Sakura wiggled her fingers expectantly only for Gaara to continue looking at it in confusion. "For what was done to me, you're forgiven...this would be the part where we shake hands and forget about it." She said after too much time had passed. Gaara glanced behind him at his siblings, seeking some sort of moral support which apparently came as a thumbs up from Kankurō. Then the two proceeded with an awkward handshake._

_As a person who held grudges of the well earned sort, that easy acceptance was somewhat striking but not dislikable. It was a utilitarian sort of forgiveness he could see the sense in. Sasori had tuned the rest of the conversation out as soon as the name Naruto slipped out of Gaara's mouth. He certainly appreciated not having to worry that his youngest student might have a psychotic break at the wrong time of the month and start foaming at the mouth, screaming about his so-called mother but he also could have done without the sudden desperate need for approval and peer-bonding he exhibited._

_There were even more wannabe Chūnin than the last selection exam, enough so that no one from the same village would be fighting someone they knew from home during the preliminaries._

_The bowl-cut with the massive eyebrows was in the ring again and Sasori had little doubt that the spandex wearer would advance to the next rank when all was done given how he had performed against Gaara the last time. "Your work I presume?" He asked without looking at the woman next to him, distinctly recalling the hubbub about how his student's rough treatment during their fight had ended Lee's career._

_"Right in one." Tsunade replied, gaze set forward as Lee launched his opponent into the air._

_On the terrace below him he could hear the chorus of cheers that coincided with each blow delivered._

_"You sure seem to like him." Temari's voice reached his ears and he didn't have to see her face to know the haughty smirk it possessed._

_It shouldn't have been surprising that she gravitated towards them-specifically Sakura after her easygoing response to a prior attempt on her life by a sibling that Temari had fast developed a protectiveness for. The three of them were never in possession of a wealth of companions their age and while it would have been easy to blame it all on Gaara's instability, their family was simply known for its prickly, abrasive personalities irregardless of poorly sealed tailed-beasts._

_Temari for instance took enjoyment out of making people squirm, or trying to-the teasing tone seemed to fly right over Sakura's head._

_"I admire him." The other Kunoichi clarified. "Lee-san helped me out once at great risk to himself-he's a good person and when I see him trying hard like he always does it inspires me. People like Lee and I don't come from illustrious families or in-born natural talent...whatever gains we make are because of hardwork and dedication. Him more so than me."_

_When her time to fight came Sakura's declaration about hard work proved to be true. The way that she fought was nothing like he remembered, faster and more intuitive as she pirouetting and flipping herself out of range of a sword stroke. There was a grace and surety that she had lacked the last time he saw her fight. Never taking her eyes away from the Kirigakure-nin she was fighting, the match ended when she slid beneath a swinging blade and caught him with the side of her hand in the back of the neck. His body crumpling to the packed earth._

_She went on to the final rounds, paired against a kunoichi from Kumogakure who was well versed in lighting release, enough so that Sakura was having a hard time closing the gap between them. She was trained as a close distance fighter and the space between her and the lightning user was expansive due to the ground crackling with electricity. For a time it seemed as if the two were stuck at a stalemate until the Konoha-nin reared her elbow back and sent her fist hurtling into the floor._

_The stadium shook and for a split second he wondered if a giant scorpion had tunneled its way beneath the arena, and was preparing to burst forth. The ground split and splintered, sucking inward on itself and capsizing, dragging the Kumo-Kunoichi into the undertow as cracks began to fissure their way up the walls. His eyes took in the epicenter of where the damage had begun once the dust settled and saw Sakura adjusting her gloves from where she stood over her unconscious opponent._

_The way that Tsunade fought was legendary and difficult to master; precise amounts of chakra fed into the limbs to enhance strength and when concentrated into her hands and feet it could then be expelled with force like an explosion just before impact. Sasori had never seen it in action. "And you call yourselves women with that sort of strength." he mumbled. The ability-for a lack of better word, was truly an awe inspiring sight. Sakura's limbs and frame didn't look like they should have been capable of the feat and coming from where she had started the turnaround was praiseworthy._

_"And you call yourself a man with those noodle arms." Tsunade mocked in turn._

_"I should make you pay for repairs." Sasori's face remained blank even as the fissures continued to grow, confident that his arms were perfectly muscled for his skillset and body type. "Did she have to be so extreme? Now we must postpone the rest of the matches to check the structure." Destroying the arena had solved Sakura's problem of distance without risking her own wellbeing but he was impatient for the exams to be over so that Suna would be rid of all its extra bustle._

_"Pay for the damages your ragtag team and slipshod plans caused my village first." Tsunade rebuffed, crossing her arms."She used more Chakra then necessary." She said after a moment, offering some honest critique. "It's something she'll get better with as her experience grows. Until very recently she was having trouble using it in actual combat. It takes a lot of concentration and delicate manipulation."_

_He wondered if it was more difficult than spinning chakra into threads so thin they couldn't be seen by most eyes. "They weren't my plans." By his count Sakura had only begun to mentor under Tsunade less than a year ago and by any standard her progress was impressive, even if she needed to refine her abilities a bit more he was of the opinion that she was prepared for advancement given what he'd seen and knew from their prior meetings. "You've done well in instructing her, a teacher truly does shape the student."_

_"Everything you see was there to begin with," The Hokage replied, smiling down at the victor she had trained. "She only needed someone to take notice and point the way."_

_Sasori could still recall how brilliantly the girl had smiled about it, like the image was seared into his corneas and all because he'd said she was probably the most improved out of her academy classmates. Gloved hands clutched to her chest as if in prayer, eyes gleaming and rosy cheeked as she cheered. In those days, he was of the opinion that she emoted far too easily for someone in their profession.  
_

* * *

This was posted as a separate series on Ao3, unfortunately FF. net does not allow that.

I did not die, I was just busy giving birth to this monster...Curse those of you who said they wanted a prequel to see Sasori falling in love. Damn you! I just about broke myself writing this -shakes fist-

On that note, thank you to FireThatFox and everyone else who listened to me complain endlessly and kept pushing me lmao. Sorry it took so long.

There were several moments where I was just like "I just wanna give up its garbage and it goes on forever." If it's no good I will yeet myself out a window.

Canon implies that Gaara cannot sleep a single wink without Shukaku taking control. I say that's bullshit because It would literally kill him. He simply goes unnaturally long periods without it, the longer he goes the more unhinged he becomes but as consequence when he starts to reach his breaking point he becomes more vulnerable. That's how Sasori drugs him up and Gaara proceeds to get a solid block of sleep, waking up feeling refreshed and less crazy. He's a binge sleeper.

Interestingly, Sakura knew about puppetry as far back as part one and I would say it was foreshadowing on Kishimoto's part if I believed he had a clue what he was doing 90% of the time. He didn't. Otherwise Shukaku would have recognized Kyuubi during Naruto VS Gaara.

The canon politics of Naruto do not make much sense to me as they are described. I mean, If I were a daimyo and I was faced with hyper powerful villages that that housed singular individuals that could bring down entire small nations on their own...I wouldn't want to be on their bad side is all.

Part II will be up tomorrow, probably. Maybe earlier, we'll see.


	5. Devil Take The Hindmost: Part II

**Stupid With Love: **Devil Take The Hindmost  
**Part II**

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__

_A year later he was days away from Suna when word came that there had been an attack. Kankurō had been incapacitated with a substance pilfered out of his personal lab and Gaara had been stolen away. In the whispers of his spies it was said that the ones who had done it intended to draw out the ichibi and sell it to the northern continent as a weapon, a mistake if he ever heard one for a variety of reasons. Konoha was marginally closer than he was and the council had sent a missive for aid their way._

_What Kankurō had been dosed with had not been specified, which meant that it could have been anything he'd tinkered around with in his lab including substances he had yet to test._

_Sasori arrived, according to the guards at the gates only a few hours behind the Konoha team and he proceeded without delay to the hospital after tossing one of them his hat when it became too annoying to bear any longer. The hospital staff were all murmuring quietly in the background as he swept by, too focused to pay attention to the details in the moment._

_Before breaching the room his middle cousin had been stationed in Sasori could hear the craggy voice of his grandmother leaking into the hall. "As a Shinobi from Suna I am more than enough for backup. I may be old but I'm not dead yet and I have more experience than the lot of you put together."_

_If his grandmother was so eager to expedite her impending death Sasori would not be one to argue. Stepping into the room he saw Kankurō sitting up in bed, sweating and looking pale but much better than the missive had stated. "I see you're not dead. You don't look like you're suffering too much though...Did they mistake a paralytic for one of the deadly ones?"_

_"Heavy metal." Sakura corrected, holding a vial of the deep violet, almost black substance that he recognized as his greatest poison. It Started with a paralyzing effect,the moment it got into the bloodstream and began eating away at tissues and organs. It could take 3 days for a victim to die, if he allowed them that had perfected the formula when he was 13 and to his knowledge in the nine years since no one had worked out the cure. If he had to refer to his own notes to craft it and so anticipating anyone else could do it without them had simply never crossed his mind._

_"This thing was a real piece of work by the way. The cellular destruction was astoundingly quick. You really ought to keep antidotes on hand for something this awful." Sakura was still talking. _

_Antidotes had a shelf life, the longer they sat around unused the less potent they became therefore mixing them before they saw near immediate use was just a waste of ingredients. "Why would I do that? If I were to accidentally poison myself I would deserve to die and if someone were to be poisoned by me I obviously wanted them dead. Making a cure for things meant to kill defeats their purpose and is a waste of time. As for Kankurō? he should have dodged better. " The moment Sasori decided to kill a person there was no going back and honestly he thought he had taught the boy better._

_"What kind of statement is that? They're your family and you act like it doesn't even matter if they die!" Sakura's teeth flashed at him through her snarl, as though she had completely forgotten who she was talking to but Sasori was far too busy trying to pick apart her words until they made sense to him to care about respect or lack thereof._

_Was it supposed to matter if they were blood or otherwise? His own parents had died and he had never cried, not when they left not, when he finally realized it. They were dead and the world kept moving like they never even existed. That was just how things went, the only way to avoid it was to live forever. "Girl, Is that really something a Shinobi should say ? You should know that all Shinobi are nothing but disposable tools ." Each and every one of them were expendable, himself included if he ever met someone who could best him. There was no use in bemoaning such a simple fact._

_"Why's that the only way that you can think? Ninja's are still human beings no matter how you look at it, saying that death is inevitable therefore its pointless to care...what sort of stupid logic is that?" Sakura's eyes only seemed to grow greener the more fierce her tone became, her fist clenched so tightly it shook as she spoke. "If we go by what you're saying, then creating that antidote was a pointless endeavor because someday Kankurō's going to die from something one way or another. If that's the case antibiotics are a waste too."_

_He could almost hear her teeth clenched together in the stunned silence that followed her diatribe. There were very few people who spoke to him so forcefully, without a care to who he was and what he could do but it wasn't simply the way that Sakura spoke to him that stunned him but the content of what she said._

_Sasori had originally assumed his grandmother was responsible for Kankurō's continued status among the living. Out of everyone, loathe as he was to admit it she knew his work best. she'd taught him the foundation he would build upon but in the span of a few words and making some logical deductions he realized that it was Sakura who'd accomplished the feat._

_Tsunade had told him that in a few short years her student would prove a challenge and she had been right. For all his arrogance Sasori had never been one to deny a logical argument even when it went against his own preconceived notions, nor did he hold grudges against someone who rightfully bested him-rare as the occurrence was. It was simply the natural order of things, a person who was beaten fairly had no right to be upset at the outcome when they could only blame their own shortcomings._

_Sakura's argument was simply that if there is something that can be done to save a life it should be done whether what ails the individual is an infection or something more insidious and he cannot disagree but the idea that there is some inherent value to their lives pricks at him. His whole life, Sasori had been taught that Shinobi were different from others-expendable in service to whatever goal they were expected to reach. He'd been born in a time where children were old enough to fight in war as soon as they graduated their academy class._

_He had. He had also been exceptionally good at killing from a young age. Sometimes without even trying. So good they'd given him a moniker that people shivered to hear. The Third, who had been his grandmother's nephew, had lauded Sasori's achievements, Rasa too. Even his grandmother had beamed with pride as Sasori's kill count climbed during the war going so far as to reward him with every touchstone he achieved._

_It was hard for him to fathom that their lives had any value at all, even within his own family. Rasa had used his own wife and child to create a weapon they could barely control. His grandmother had facilitated it then withdrew from the mess that ensued not to mention what she had done to him personally._

_Sasori had underestimated Sakura from the moment he saw her to the moment he walked through the doors that day. He'd been wrong and following that line of thinking, who was to say he wasn't wrong about the value of life as well? Or at least some lives. Perhaps there was a sliding scale rather than a flat rate. Sasori's thoughts raced and the whole world narrowed in on the girl responsible, he wanted to know what laid behind those eyes of hers._

_How had she done it? It was roughly two years since she began her apprenticeship and yet Sakura had advanced enough that it only took mere hours to undo years of his work. That wasn't luck, it was brilliance at work. Sasori wanted to know the processes at play within her head, wanted to share what he knew._

_"How unexpected. " He said at last. " I'll admit it, you really are impressive...at least with antidotes. I'd like to see how you fight but given the situation it is best I remain here. Hag, you'll have to tell me if she fights as well as she runs her mouth...if you come back alive." He's confident that Sakura would survive and somewhat hopeful his grandmother wouldn't._

_In the time that they were gone as he was cataloguing the state of his workshop and taking into account what was missing and what would need to be changed Sasori came to the realization that he had allowed himself to stagnate over the years. he could not remember the last time he truly had to try at anything. Sakura was like a force making ripples across still water, playing at the surface and stirring what laid beneath._

_Hours passed and the surety he'd been feeling began to fade, what if he'd been wrong and she wasn't coming back alive? It would be a shame for someone like her to die so young with still so much to learn and so many things left to do. Sasori had not been able to ask-"Ah." He'd said to the empty air, at once understanding what Sakura had meant when she said human lives had meaning and that the meaning came from others. He was hard pressed to think of a person he ranked above her in the moment, beyond perhaps himself._

_When Kankurō was well enough to move about he'd given him and Temari leave to take a small squadron and offer support if need be. They returned, no casualties accrued just as the sun was sinking, exhausted and sporting minor injuries. All Sasori felt was an odd sense of relief at the news._

_He took a brief report from Gaara, Kakashi and Gai on the events and then Sasori had gone looking for his grandmother-a once in a blue-moon event, all to hear how the girl had done in battle. He could at least trust the old woman's honest assessment of events, especially regarding a Kunoichi who had learned from a woman she frequently expressed intense dislike for._

_When Sasori had turned 15, he'd demanded that he be allowed to live on his own and his Grandmother graciously moved in with her brother on the other half of their family's territory. He was through the door without a sound, silent by nature and practice when he heard a voice he had not expected._

_"Those are his parents?" Sakura was speaking but her pattern of speech seemed slower than he recalled. "Ah, he looks like his mom…" there was a faint giggle. "But he's got his hair."_

_"Yes, My son Orimasu and his wife, Sarari."_

_He stood still with his back to the wall as he listened. The number of times he had heard those names from his Grandmother's mouth since they died numbered in single digits and yet she said them so easily to a stranger she'd met less than 24 hours ago. Sasori was above feeling slighted by her and had been since he was 8, he was mostly confused._

_"Back there...You said that hard times breed hard men…they were a part of it, right?" Sakura's voice was barely audible as she whispered in the dim glow beyond the shadows he rested in._

_"They died when he was very young and I'm afraid I only made the loss worse. I did not tell Sasori they wouldn't be coming home until long after he realized it for himself." There was a weary sigh that followed the excuses he had heard before._

_A sniffle sounded out, the noise enough to make him risk peering into the room oh-so-carefully. The two of them sat before the butsudan his grandmother had recently reset, images of deceased family members cluttering the altar. His parents, Rasa, Kurara, Yashamaru and Ebizō's son who had lent his body to Sasori's craft were laid among it._

_From where he stood he had a view of Sakura's face in profile, the bruises and the faint scuffs included. It was the tears that truly fascinated him._

_"It must have been hard for him. Waiting each day thinking every sound of the door could have been them only to find that it wasn't." The tears slipped down the curve of her cheek and looked gold in the glow of the altar candles. "And it must have been hard for you too, knowing but not knowing how to tell him...not wanting it to be true."_

_Sakura could cure a poison he spent years on, she could cry for dead strangers when he couldn't spare a single drop for his own parents...She was all the things he could not be but complementary to him in nature. Her mind had to work like his own in some way to understand his poison so instantly. That feeling from before only seemed to swell the more he examined the facets of her and compared them to his own._

_"You really are a good girl." Chiyo laughed, but the sound was strained. "My mistakes are not relegated to Sasori but the other three as well. I sealed that beast into Gaara and in my guilt I left others to deal with the consequences."_

_There was a thump and Sakura's head was laid to rest between the pictures of his parents. "But...it's not too late. You're still alive...So, you can make up for it." The words drifted out on half asleep sighs. "I'm not a good daughter." She whined at random._

_"Oh dear, I simply don't believe it." Chiyo said, patting her companion's head. It annoyed Sasori, how close they were in such a short time. "But if it's as you say, it's not too late as long as you-asleep already? I suppose I did give you too much. As for you, haven't I told you how rude it is to eavesdrop, boy?"_

_"What exactly did you give her and why?" They both knew exactly how he felt about listening in on others._

_"Don't say it like I did it without her knowledge." Which was something Sasori probably would have done. "She was sore from the battle-it's not easy allowing someone to use you as a puppet...at first at least. I overestimated how much she would need. Apparently super strength does not equate to super tolerance."_

_Sasori made a noise of annoyance because he wouldn't have made such a mistake. "She let you use her like that...how trusting." To let someone she barely knew have that much power of her, he could never stand for it. Sakura put her life in another's hands so easily for his tastes._

_"Only for a time." Chiyo fidgeted with the false arm she'd made for herself after Gaara in a Ichibi influenced tantrum had relegated her earthly one beyond repair. "I had a malfunction and she had to adapt on her own. It was as you said, she is an impressive girl."_

_"Are you going to leave her there?" Sasori motioned towards the unconscious form, watching the way Sakura's shoulders rose and fell with each breath. He's not sure what to call the sudden change in his perspective when it came to her-respect surely, rarely felt admiration even. Most of the people he had ever liked were dead; That scrub of an idiot he'd been friendly with as a child, the Sandaime whose prowess he had respected, Monzaemon who had pioneered the methods of puppetry and the parents whom he had loved were among the few before her he had ever felt even remotely moved by._

_"Well, I can hardly carry her myself."_

_There was a time he would have counted the old woman before him but resentment had a way of eating away at whatever bond they used to have. It felt like he was always being tested by her in some way, as though she was suspicious of every move he made-which was probably for the best. Even now his grandmother was looking at him with inquisitive eyes as Sasori crossed across the floorboards and pulled the girl into his arms. It was clear by the wide set of his grandmother's eyes that it had not been the answer she expected._

_Refusing to spare more words until his current task was handled with care, Sasori took to the stairs. Sakura wasn't heavy, decently muscled for her size and profession but the majority of her strength came from actively manipulating chakra through muscle and limbs. When she was settled among the covers he took the time to truly study her face._

_He could recall that as a genin she'd been cute in the way that most adolescents were designed to be so that their elders were less inclined to murder them when they became too annoying. Now, laying over the fish patterned quilt his grandmother and great uncle had stitched, Sakura was gangly, bruised and still growing into her bones._

_She was pretty from an objective standpoint, in possession of a heart shaped face and symmetrical features. From the fan of her lashes to the bow of her lips and hidden in her cheekbones, it was clear that time would only be kind to her._

_A feeling of anticipation welled within him, she'd become more beautiful, more brilliant than she currently was and what a thing that would be to see. "And what of me?" Sasori had spoken the words to himself in the dark and Sakura stirred, thin slivers of green peeking through her lashes._

_"Hm?" She murmured._

_Sasori was not used to soothing anyone, whether they were awake or half asleep but Sakura was easy to placate. The brush of his hand over her forehead and drowsy eyelids, hushing her as he recalled being done to him in some distant memory. It was easier than expected and she fell silent once more._

_The more he thought the more he realized how still he has been. Sasori cannot remember the last time he had to actually try at anything. He'd spent a few years of trial and error, working out the kinks in his method of creating human puppets and during that same period he had seen, or assumed his poison to be perfected. Not much of note had been done since and time spent training unasked for students nor the running of a village were not an acceptable excuse. What he knew was that without adversity there could be no improvement._

_"It just won't do," Sasori said to the sleeping girl. "For you to go on getting better while I remain as I am." One either evolved or died and he had no desire to do the latter while Sakura was in the process of the former. He had no problem being bested, it was his own fault and it only served to prove how far she had come despite his own beliefs but that also did not mean he was going to let the current score remain forever unchecked._

_With one last look at the slumbering girl, he rose and returned downstairs. "Well?" Sasori prompted, rolling his wrist impatiently. "Report."_

_"Time has certainly done nothing to improve your manners." His grandmother sniffed, sharp curiosity in her dark eyes. "What, exactly would you like to know?"_

_"Everything." Sasori replied without hesitation. He was used to her regarding him with suspicion ever since he inadvertently helped an idiot murder theirself._

_"Ah, of course. How silly of me at my age to forget such a thing." The old woman croaked a brief laugh and began to recite the events following their departure, of how the girl sleeping in the spare room had risked her life like a fool for someone who had more years behind her than ahead of her not once, but repeatedly. The rogue they had fought made away with quite a bit of Sasori's poison and Sakura's forethought in preparing multiple antidotes and her quick uptake on their opponents movements pushed them towards a victory. His grandmother might have landed the killing blow but none of it would have been possible without Sakura._

_"That slug-woman outdid herself in picking an apprentice. The power in her blows...for a moment I thought the entire cavern would cave in on us, but every hit she made was precisely where it needed to be." It was perhaps the nicest thing Chiyo had ever said about Tsunade._

_Hours before his grandmother would have fulminated about how disgraceful it was that Suna had to rely on Konohagakure for anything. "You like her." It wasn't all that surprising given how similar he was to her._

_"Yes, she's brilliant, sincere and tenacious. Admirable qualities in anyone and that mind of hers…I never thought I'd say it but Suna could learn a few things from Konoha." There was a pause as she thought something over and then the tea she had been sipping was set back on the table. "Chikamatsu's Ten are in awful condition though. It may take quite some time to repair them, some may never perform as well as they once did...but If you have the time, perhaps you would like to have a look at them?"_

_Sasori supposed it was her attempt at a peace offering, he had never been allowed to see them with his own eyes before and Chiyo knew how much he admired the man who created The Ten and that he could hardly stand for such a legacy to be left in disrepair. The tilt of his head was the only affirmation he would give on the subject._

_Sakura's team and the one that had attended them were set to leave in the morning. He lacked the well of knowledge to give name to the feeling constricting his chest at the thought but inadvertently his eyes made their way to the pictures at the altar. It was a forgone conclusion that she would have to leave but it bothered him not knowing when he would see her again especially when Sasori took into account that to his direct knowledge she had a habit of risking her life for other people on an almost annual basis._

_No, Sasori didn't want her to go far from his sight at all but he couldn't exactly force her to stay...but he could set the board in his favor. There is no expectation of immediate payoff, he is setting things up for the long haul, certain that it will pay dividends in the future-all he has to do is plant and water the seeds accordingly. He was determined that at some point their paths should and would cross on a more extended basis, and that when they did he would have all the time he needed. What, exactly that entailed he wasn't completely sure of yet._

_By morning while the rest of them were saying their goodbyes he already had a proposal drafted and sent to Tsunade, their villages were allies and if one were improved the other would naturally benefit. Konoha was arguably better at preserving life, a fact that the current Hokage loved to boast and he made sure to play on her pride when requesting that she lend Suna the apprentice that had made such an impression on them._

_The request had been open ended and so had been the reply, Tsunade had written that it was under consideration until she felt the timing was appropriate and then followed it up with a rather smug postscript about how she had told him so, to which he had rolled his eyes upon reading. A week or two after her departure the first of the letters Sakura would send his grandmother arrived-it'd been held and brought to him by the mail staff because it was seen as suspicious contact between two villagers of once opposed factions._

_Sasori supposed he should thank the head of the mail department- the man was rather old and prejudiced when it came to Konoha but he had tipped him off to a valuable source of information. Most of what Sakura wrote about had very little to do with Shinobi life, she wrote about plants and books that she had read._

_The letters came about once a week, circumstances willing and they did very little to sate his curiosity but they were at least something._

_Antics and anecdotes about the people in her life were a recurring theme, such as an artist named Sai that had recently been placed on her team. Apparently the boy had called her a hag and he'd snorted after reading it and how she had only retaliated to the rude meeting after he'd insulted that house-arrested Uchiha. Sakura never seemed quick to anger when insults were placed against her but when those around her became the target her hands tended to do the talking._

_Still, she wrote about how she worried that she was selfish when it couldn't be further from the truth in his experience. The selfish did not cry for strangers or risk their lives for others, nor did they spend their time trying to connect with and help an emotionally repressed artist who insisted on calling them ugly, or hag. Sasori was quite sure there was something wrong with the addition's eyes, or brain but there was a sense of familiarity about how she described the ink-artist._

_"Is there a reason you've been confiscating my mail?" Chiyo had asked a few months after the first letter had come. Sasori didn't even look up, still in the process of rethreading a length of chain through one of Chikamatsu's puppets, it was probably the most time he'd spent in her company in years._

_"The mail department keeps sending it to my desk." Which was true. "That old man seems to think you're plotting something with Konaha, he's clearly more paranoid than you." Also true. The part that he didn't mention was that he didn't have to read those letters when he knew the concerns were completely false._

_There was a faint narrowing of her baggy eyes but Chiyo said nothing more as she handed over an awl. The letters continued as they always had and if his grandmother had told Sakura there was a 3rd party reading their correspondents her writing gave no indication of it considering he continued to be referred to as Chiyo's mop-headed grandson._

_Around two years after that Team 7 consisting of Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, and the newest member Sai were sent on a mission that had them searching for some expatriate that Orochimaru was hungry to get his hands on. Sasori may have been responsible for Konoha getting wind of that, but he had not expected to hear various news reports about how Sakura had been separated and cornered by part of the force Orochimaru had sent out._

_By all accounts it had been bloody on both sides, she had been severely outnumbered and in her own words if it were not for the fact that Sakura had recently presented the byakugō she wouldn't have made it out alive._

_"One of them cut me from shoulder to hip, I couldn't get a great view but I'm pretty sure I was only still attached by a small piece of skin. I never used it before but feeling myself get sucked back together by Creation Rebirth was...interesting. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned by how much using it might have cut my lifespan but immediate survival versus long term…Well, you know." Sakura had written, adding that she had never been more frightened of losing her life, not even when she'd been in that cavern with his grandmother; young, inexperienced and outclassed. "I wasn't alone then...I had someone to worry about and someone to worry about me." It was said as an explanation and it only served to prove his hypothesis that she was a person motivated not by herself but by others._

_It was because Sasori had directed the tip off that she had even been there and in retrospect he should have known anything to do with Orochimaru and Team 7 was bound to have their hands in it...they had a vendetta to settle. He very well could have been responsible for her untimely demise by not waiting to provide more information._

_That notion left him with an unpleasant aftertaste as he stared down at the piece of pork pinched between his chopsticks. It was not his job to be concerned about protecting her, or keeping her alive, not when he was neither being paid to do so or tasked with it by some higher authority. Sasori was the higher authority. Despite knowing since the last time he had seen her that an early death was not something he wanted for Sakura he had yet to figure out where he was meant to place her in the scheme of things._

_"So...What's it like being in love?" Kankurō had asked from the other side of the table, painted face making his grin seem almost malicious._

_It was one of those rare occasions that Sasori had deigned to eat with his family rather than turning and walking out the door when he caught them in his house setting up for dinner. His own thoughts took precedence over a pointless battle. Sitting with them did not mean he had to engage with them._

_"Shut up." Temari sneered, chopsticks fisted in her hand like a downward facing blade. The relationship between her and that Nara boy had recently taken on new depths despite the distance they were often subjected to as she traveled back and forth as an ambassador and Kankurō made it a point to tease her mercilessly after years of her denying any such possibility._

_The skin between Gaara's nonexistent brows wrinkled. "What is it like?" Love may have been written on his forehead but he didn't understand the many nuances it came with. He understood familial love, though the beginning of his life had been rather lacking in it and he understood platonic bonds but the romantic sort was just beyond him._

_Temari's lips parted and moved soundlessly, struggling to form words. She blew Kankurō off because he'd been teasing her, she couldn't blow off a genuine question from her stunted little brother. "It's complicated." She sighed, fist relinquishing their stranglehold on her eating implements. "And it's also not...When you're not with them, you want to be. Your thoughts are always on them, you think about things that they would say if they were with you...They fill up the pieces of you that are missing without even trying."_

_Gaara only seemed more confused by the explanation. "I feel that way about Naruto."_

_"Yea, but do you think Naruto is cute?" Temari arched a brow._

_"No." Was said after a moment of consideration._

_Temari's shoulders shook in quiet laughter. "I guess it doesn't make a lot of sense until you've felt it for yourself."_

_The meat had slid from Sasori's hold, falling back onto his plate in a display of less than perfect etiquette. He worried, he wanted to be with her, he certainly thought about her more frequently than he should and he'd long since acknowledged that Sakura was capable of the things he was not, that she had the pieces he lacked. There was a snap and three pairs of eyes drifted in his direction._

_"You uh...broke your chopsticks." Kankurō gulped._

_Sasori didn't say anything but the look he gave was enough to make the hardiest of shrubs clinging to life out in the desert wither._

_Regardless of how complementary he and Sakura were it was ridiculous to fall for a person he only knew from brief interactions and letters that weren't even addressed to him, irregardless of how high in regard he held her. It didn't matter if they read the same books and that they liked the same colors, or if the rambling he despised in any other person entertained him coming from her. Maybe he was enthralled about her theories regarding infectious diseases and the fact that she, at least in her letters, was rather vicious when it came to mocking council members in her own village-he'd thought her too straightlaced and loyal for such a thing._

_It did not have to mean anything that he'd sought her out on the rare occasions he found himself in Konoha or that his eyes were intrinsically attracted to a particular shade of pink and it certainly didn't have to mean anything that he subtly had his contacts keep apprised of Sakura's whereabouts._

_Refusing to believe that it might have been true he abruptly stopped reading the letters. For a month or two and then in the middle of a freshly arrived note he had to stop, feeling as though he had missed something important in the letter preceding it. Which was how Temari found him rifling through the box in which Chiyo saved every single correspondence she received from Sakura._

_"What are you doing?" The blonde, one arm hiding the scroll she'd pilfered behind her back, eyebrows arched a mile high._

_"I could ask you the same thing but I won't," Sasori replied without a glance. " If you don't ask any more, I don't tell." And that was that. There was a faint narrowing of her teal eyes at him as they flicked from the label of the box and back to his face but Temari said no more and simply backed out of the room mumbling under her breath._

_Maybe Sasori did love Sakura, maybe it was simple, unsatiated curiosity as he waited for his long term plan to come to fruition but whatever it was he wasn't willing to give up the small connection he did have to her even if it was a secondhand one._

_Abdicating once Gaara reached an acceptable age had been his plan from the start, while he might have enjoyed the control being Kazekage afforded Sasori liked to maneuver his power plays in the dark with as few eyes on him as possible. They were more than a few years into their alliance with Konoha and he felt it was only appropriate to invite Tsunade to the next Kazekage's inauguration. He had subtly suggested she ought to bring those who had built a rapport with Suna as a show of their strong bond and was pleased to see Sakura's name on the list of those who would be traveling with her._

_He knew the moment the retinue Sakura was with had stepped into the village and though Gaara had yet to officially take up the mantle all the duties had been passed over to him, leaving Sasori with ample free time. It wasn't difficult to stage what seemed like a perfectly natural run in as he avoided the Tsuchikage's extremely annoying pupil that had the gall to call himself an artist._

_Naruto was extremely loud upon meeting Gaara, making plans to go out for a meal later which was how Sasori knew the best place to lay in wait._

_Standing at the crossroad that intersected the area they would be meeting in, he caught a glimpse of Sakura for the first time in a year as she turned a corner and stepped right into her path. It was like a tension he hadn't known he was carrying gave way. Taller, with a slimmer face and fuller hips, she had grown into her bones and found a particular fondness for boots. Facing her made it clear he'd been avoiding the truth. "Ah," Sasori finally pinpointed one of the things that was so intriguing about her. " It seems like every time we meet you're different but exactly the same." It was her eyes. They were the same as the first time he saw her and every time after; verdant green and vivacious._

_"And you haven't changed since the day I met you ." Sakura replied dryly, hands hitching their way to her hips. Within her letters she called him inscrutable and she still gazed at him in wary confusion._

_Sasori never considered himself particularly vain, it was simply a matter of taking care of the assets he had in order to make them last. He was pleased she had noticed. "Oh, Darling Girl you certainly do know how to compliment a man." Sakura was close enough to touch after so long. The slide of his palm against the curve of her cheek was rewarded by a burst of red blooming across her skin. "I used to think that true beauty only existed in things that were everlasting and unchanged by time, but I'm finding more and more that some things are...transcendent ." She may have grown and changed in some ways but she was in possession of certain immutable qualities that made her timeless in his eyes. _

_The mark at the center of her forehead was even more proof of how far Sasori knew she had come from the scrap he'd rolled his eyes at so long ago. His thumb traced a path along her cheek and over her forehead, finding no difference in texture between her skin and the byakugō. "You really are something to behold. It's a shame you're wasted where you are." Sakura was looking at him, wide eyed and startled-lips parted as she no doubt puzzled over his words._

_In her letters she was focused on her work, bored and unchallenged when she wasn't being stymied for advancement at the hospital due to her so called inexperience. Sakura didn't write about romantic entanglements unless it was to say that she wasn't interested in them but standing there flushing as she gazed up at him, Sasori wondered if it was simply that she hadn't been pursued by the right sort of man. _

_That loud-mouth blonde called her name and Sakura's head turned from him. _

_"You should consider a longer visit to Suna sometime." Sasori had sighed, stepping away from her reluctantly. "It could be...mutually beneficial." He knew what he wanted and now that Gaara would be taking over most of the burden that came with leading he'd have more leeway to do as he pleased._

_Later, Sasori would catch a glimpse of her in the banquet hall, corralling Naruto like he was a wayward sheep from some argument he was about to have about peace and the futility of hatred in front of the fire Daimyo. Looking exhausted and annoyed as she passed him over to the care of the ink painter she talked about in her letters. He left his own seat, taking his cup along with him to follow her, ignoring the eyes at his back._

_Sakura turned, sensing someone at her back and muffled a squeak when she caught sight of him. "Kaze-Sasori...Sama?" she struggled over the correct way to call him._

_"Sasori." He preferred to hear his name from her without any honorifics, unbothered by how others would take it. Sasori gripped her wrist and pressed the cup to her hand. "Drink it before you dehydrate." Green eyes darted from the vessel and back to his face, lips pursued as she considered the dangers. "Little girl, you're insulting my intelligence, I wouldn't poison you from the cup I'm holding in front of an entire delegation of Shinobi." Or at all but he took a sip to prove his words._

_"That is a good point." Sakura mumbled and accepted the cup, sniffing at the contents before making the decision that she would in fact trust him. There was a clamor from across the room Naruto and the Tsuchikage's attendant Deidara were forehead to forehead one looking amused and the other about to explode. "Shit." She half-choked and fumbled as she dashed off, cup still in hand._

_Kankurō and Temari were sitting slack-jawed at the table when he returned in an abysmal display of ill manners and poor emotional restraint._

_"I-i...thought Obaachan was senile when she said you liked her!" Temari mumbled, palms pressed against her forehead as though she were fighting through an existential crisis._

_"And I thought you were just like...plotting Sakura's downfall when Temari said you were stealing letters."_

_"It's not stealing if I didn't take them." Sasori corrected. "I merely read them and put them back."_

_Kankurō gasped, slapping his hands on the table loud enough to draw attention to himself. "You're not even denying it!"_

_"Why would I?" He'd already done that and it had been a pointless waste of time._

_The two siblings looked at one another. "You know what this means right?" Kankurō asked with a sigh._

_"We were wrong and he actually is a human being?" Temari grimaced, pushing her plate away._

_"Well yes that and we have to make sure they hook up." The middle child explained and shushed Temari's incoming complaint. "No, think about it; Do you want to deal with a Sasori that is more miserable and mean then usual? Think about our self preservation here, Sis."_

_Sasori, who had only been half listening to the prattling as he watched Sakura pry both blondes away from one another, smirked. "I don't find that I am in need of your help but it is heartening to see that the two of you have some sense. I'm glad I taught it to you."_

_"I think we'll all find that this is easier said than done." Temari sneered in perfect imitation of her former Kage._

_Minor meetings and parting followed, subtle hints were dropped by all around that Sakura should come for a tenure to Suna by a multitude of sources and Tsunade seemed close to making a commitment but then fell through. "Sakura just started dating." Temari had explained with a shrug after returning from a trip. "I mean it hasn't been explicitly said but the signs are there. I don't think she's keen to upheave it after Sakura's been so focused on work all these years." She squinted. "Why aren't you bothered?"_

_He certainly wasn't pleased reading her letters and realizing she was seeing someone-a person who wasn't at all hard to figure out given the not-so-subtle clues Sakura left behind. It was someone she had known forever, someone she had a crush on as a girl, and someone on her team. It wasn't the artist, it wasn't the blonde and he was positive Kakashi was not an option. "It won't last." Sasori shrugged, centering the eye of his newest creation._

_"How do you know?"_

_There had been so many ways to answer that. "It took him 11 years to notice Sakura and according to her, he doesn't want his family to know. Does that sound like a good foundation for a long term relationship?" He hadn't hidden how he felt from his family and they were almost insufferable. "And the two of them had nothing in common." Sasori was almost positive most of their conversations revolved around Naruto and that Sakura did most of the talking._

_Doubt was clear as day all over Temari's face. "What if it goes on longer than you think?" It probably surprised her how patient he was being but laying in wait was not the same as standing still. He had plans and if he had to move to Konoha to fulfill them he would._

_"It wont." It was fine, even if he itched at the thought of someone else putting their hands or worse all over her. Letting Sakura learn and live on her own terms was what had shaped her into someone he coveted, he couldn't have what he wanted by crushing it in his grip. If he wanted her subtle was the best way to be. In the meantime Sasori continued chipping away at Tsunade in the correspondences they kept, He wrote because she was gatekeeping him from what he wanted and because she had information... it helped that it drove his grandmother into fits._

_He never begged, simply wrote about how it would benefit all parties involved._

_Another two years of waiting and the reward for his efforts was ready to be reaped. He'd been staring down at an enclosed dish full of flesh eating bacteria as Deidara prattled on about something he was completely uninterested in, debating the merits of testing the new strain on a living subject when a piece of paper fluttered down from the ceiling._

_"What's that?" The iwa-nin wondered, pausing in the middle of his complaint about how static and un-dynamic Sasori's work was._

_Reading over the few scant lines he recognized as Tsunade's handwriting, Sasori began to laugh. The noise startled Deidara enough that he visibly shuddered in the dim lighting._

_"What mortal enemy did you kill?" Deidara asked, picking up the letter Sasori had left out. "Who's coming and what are they wishing you luck for...?"_

_"My future wife." Sasori, finding himself in a gregarious mood, placed the dish in a bin to be incinerated._

_Deidara grew even paler at the words. "What was that now?"_

_He did not repeat himself._

There was a shuffle of papers as Sakura's head nuzzled deeper into her arms and it tore him from the memories. "Enough of that." Sasori said and coiled pink tresses about his finger, giving a few gentle tugs to rouse her.

"Hakka...did you bring more coffee?" She slurred in response, head popping off the desk with half open eyes.

The sudden rising brushed her forehead against his jaw. "Wrong person, do I look like a nervous, star-struck wreck?" Sasori snorted. He might have been in awe of Sakura but at least he could string sentences together. "Sakura…" he cooed, allowing her to sleepily press her cheek against his neck, amused to find that she was sniffing him. " You have been so graciously provided a bed at my home. Be a dear and use it rather than your desk. I'm positive it's more comfortable."

Curiously, using Sakura's name made her stiffen against him, as though she were standing to attention. "Sasori," She said, and he could practically hear her swallowing. "What are you doing here?" her seat wheeled away, creating distance as she realized how close they had been and what she'd been doing. 'Please don't notice that I was smelling you.' she pushed some papers around on her desk, looking anywhere but at him.

"Bringing you dinner." Sasori smirked, leaning closer. "Little girl...did I smell nice?"

There was a squeaking noise as she strangled a fistful of paper. "Wait, what?"

Tapping a finger at the boxes he'd brought along Sasori not-so-innocently repeated himself. "I asked if it smelled nice…"

"Oh, uh...yes." The paper she'd been holding was being smoothed out but there was nothing to be done about the crinkles scattered about its surface. "You didn't have to bring it though." The statement didn't stop Sakura's mouth from watering when he began to pull the lids off.

"You made me wait long enough." Sasori replied poignantly, tapping a carved pair of chopsticks into her hands.

* * *

Well, there you go, thats the short and quick of it!


End file.
